


Roses are red, Hedgehogs are blue

by Pyro_the_Elemental



Category: RWBY, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Post-Sonic Generations, Post-Volume 1 (RWBY), References to Sonic the Hedgehog, Team Dark (Sonic the Hedgehog), Weapons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2020-07-08 01:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 75
Words: 135,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19861105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyro_the_Elemental/pseuds/Pyro_the_Elemental
Summary: Vale is about get crazy when our favorite group of Mobians are teleported there via Chaos Control. But they must build friendships with the students of Beacon Academy if they want to stop Dr. Eggman's new scheme.The first 65 chapters of this story are slight rewrite's of Fanfiction.net's writer Thrawn92's "Roses red, Hedgehog blue".





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story was originally created by Thrwan92 from FanFiction.Net.  
> The original link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10142453/1/Rose-Red-Hedgehog-Blue
> 
> I do not own RWBY or Sonic the Hedgehog, both are owned by either Rooster Teeth or SEGA.

_On a earth-like planet name Remnant, there is a prophecy that has been passed down from generation to generation. This prophecy states that Remnant will one day receive unexpected visitors. One is a madman who will stop at nothing to achieving his goal of global domination, and he will do anything to achieve these dastardly goals. However, the other visitors are enemies of this mad scientist, and they, with the help of young warriors of Remnant, will stop him and derail his plans. These newcomers will be mistrusted by many at first, but everyone will see the light these heroes bring to this grimm-infested world._

**_In orbit above Mobius-_ **

"GAHAHAHAHA! Finally my plan has come to fruition!" proclaimed an obese individual in a red coat, goggles, glasses, and a huge brown mustache. This individual has caused many problems for the people of Mobius, so it's really no surprise that he is at it again. The name of this individual is the brilliant but psychotic Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but he is forever doomed to be known as "Dr. Eggman". He has made multiple plans to subject the world of Mobius to his tyranny, but his plans have always been foiled by a certain Hedgehog.

Eggman was currently standing in his latest attempt at world domination, which was a space station not unlike _Space Colony ARK_ , but with more power focused on the planet destroying _Eclipse Cannon_. On his left and right were his ever present robot assistants, Orbot and Cubot. Orbot glanced up at Eggman and intoned gravely, "Oh dear, now you've done it, boss."

"Why is that? Surely that Hedgehog couldn't reach me up here. Besides, I have an army of robots poised to destroy him even if he do reach the station!" Eggman proclaimed.

"Just look outside!" Orbot managed to say with annoyance.

Eggman looked on the security feed and much to his surprise, he saw a large group of Mobians in the vehicle hangar of the station. This group consisted of some of Eggman's greatest enemies:

Sonic, the blue Hedgehog with hypersonic speed and a quick witted tongue.

Miles "Tails" Prowler, the two-tailed Fox with an I.Q. level that rivals Eggman's himself.

Knuckles, the last guardian of the Master Emerald and a red Echidna who wasn't that smart, but made up for it with strength and loyalty.

Amy Rose, the pink Hedgehog who wields her deadly Piko-Piko hammer, and is Sonic's supposite "girlfriend."

Shadow, the black and red Hedgehog also known as the "Ultimate Life Form", and as a dark personal history.

Rouge, the white Bat known for her thieving skills and love of jewelry.

And E-123 Omega, an Eggman robot with a huge vendetta against anything Eggman related.

There were also two faces that Eggman did not recognize right away, but we know them as Blaze, the purple pyrokinetic Cat, and Silver, the psychokinetic white Hedgehog. Apparently, Eggman's scheme was big enough that Sonic called upon the assistance of his friends from the distant future and alternate dimension.

Surrounding the group was something Eggman was all too familiar with: huge piles of broken robot parts. Some were still sparking, while others were unrecognizable blobs of metal.

"Ahahahaha, I knew they would get through those worthless scraps of junk! I was just… just testing them! That's right!" Eggman said unconvincingly. Cubot looked at him at said in a high pitched voice, "Hey boss, are ya sure we are safe here? Those guys look like they're coming here pretty quickly."

"Of course we are safe! I knew they would get through those useless pawns, so I made a backup plan!" Eggman punched a button on the console in front of him. "Badniks! Attack Sonic and his puny friends!"

All around the station, ports in the walls opened up, releasing robots of various shapes and sizes, mostly of large insects.

"Gahahaha, let's see them get through these!"

* * *

"Seriously? Badniks? Come on, Eggman, let's see something a little more original!" said Sonic as he spin dashed from one Badnik wasp, known as a Buzz Bomber, to another.

"Uh, Sonic? What the heck are those things?!" Silver asked, more than a little freaked out by the appearance of new robotic monstrosities. He used his psychic powers to catch wasp stings from the air and sent them back at the owners, causing them to explode.

"THESE ARE BADNIKS. THEY ARE VERY PRIMITIVE CREATIONS OF EGGMAN, BACK WHEN HE WAS KNOWN AS DR. ROBOTNIK", Omega said over the roar of his machine guns and rocket launchers. "THEY ARE POWERED BY SMALL ANIMALS LIKE THE ROBOTS IN THE EARLY E-SERIES ROBOTS."

"Enough history lessons, let's destroy them all!" shouted Shadow, firing several _Chaos Spears_ everywhere.

"Tails, how is that portal coming along?" asked Sonic, who was still spin-dashing around, destroying Badniks and Egg Pawns.

Tails was currently on the ground, dodging lasers and missiles while tinkering with a remote. "Almost… Got it!" shouted Tails. A large sphere of light appeared above the ground, and the released animals from inside the Badniks sensed that safety lay in that light. The other end of the portal was located on the surface of Mobius, more specifically on _Angel Island_ , so there really was a safe place for them. Well, as safe as an island that floats due to the power of a huge emerald gets, when it isn't smashed to pieces or being stolen by a certain white Bat….

Speaking of Rouge, she and Knuckles were currently back-to-back, the former was kicking while the latter was punching robots like there was no tomorrow. "They just keep coming!" Knuckles shouted while punching a robot in the head.

"Getting tired, Knuckie? I thought you had more stamina than that." Rouge said flirtingly. Knuckles just grimaced in annoyance.

All of a sudden, there was a bright light and intense heat. All the remaining robots in the hangar were destroyed, and the animals fled to the safety of the portal. The culprit was Blaze the Cat, who still had fire in her hands. "Come, friends, we must leave this place. Too many lives are at stake." the pyrokinetic cat said.

"She's right, we need to get to the control room." Amy said, dusting off her red dress.

"Then let's go!" Sonic said, speeding off to the Control Room (thank Chaos that the Chaotix's weren't with them), with everyone else not far behind.

* * *

"Uh, Doctor? They seem to have destroyed all the Badniks." Orbot said with panic in his voice.

"Hmph, worthless creations," Dr. Eggman harrumphed. "No matter, I have all seven _Chaos Emeralds_ , and now nothing can stop me from building the Eggman Empire from the ashes of the old world!" He punched a big red button on the control panel in front of him.

All around the _Egg ARK_ , the lights slowly dimmed, with all power being directed to the primary cannon. In the core, the seven _Chaos Emeralds_ shone brightly, their power once again being used for evil deeds. All of a sudden, something sparked, and the Emeralds started pulsating wildly. A bright light started to expand around the Emeralds, and then the entire station was lit up. Shadow and Knuckles, the two being in tune with the _Chaos Emeralds_ and their power, sensed something was wrong in an instant.

"Brace yourselves, everyone! The doctor's machine has caused a massive _Chaos Control_!" The Ultimate Life Form shouted out with worry.

Everyone stopped running and jumped to the floor, grabbing at anything to hold on to. Oddly, while everyone else was in a panic, Sonic seemed the most calm about the whole ordeal. Not too surprising, considering this happens to him almost on a regular basis

"*Sigh*, this is gonna suck." Sonic said deadpanned. Then the light completely surrounded the station.

On Mobius, everyone saw what happened. The _Egg ARK_ was replaced with a bright light, and then it vanished. Nobody knows where or when the station went, but one thing's for sure; Sonic and his friends were not gonna be bored by this new adventure!


	2. First Meeting

_Beacon Academy dorms  
8_: _00 pm_

It was a beautiful evening in Vale, and all of the students at Beacon Academy were relieved that it was finally the weekend. Most of the students were studying for future assignments, and the rest were quietly reflecting on the day.

**BOOM!**

_*CRASH*_

Okay, almost everyone.

"RUBY!" shouted a white-haired female named Weiss Schnee. The Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company was reading up on the day's studies, but the girl in the white dress was rudely interrupted by a loud gunshot that took out the window of the dorm room of team RWBY. Ice blue eyes looked angrily at the culprit, who was wearing a black and red dress with a red hood and cap, and holding a large red scythe. The unique thing about this scythe, though, is that the tip of the "staff" part was smoking a bit. Yes, this scythe doubled as a gun. The owner of the gun, a young girl named Ruby Rose, looking at Weiss sheepishly, silver eyes gleeing apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Weiss, but it was very important!" Ruby cried out as she checked the neat hole in the once pristine window. "I thought I saw a spider!"

"Uh, Ruby? That was a moth." sighed Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long. The blonde-haired party girl was looking at the remains of a pair of tattered wings on the ground.

"Besides, don't we have a flyswatter somewhere?" asked the fourth member of Team RWBY, Blake Belladonna. The Faunus was rubbing the top of her head, which had black hair topped by a bow. "I have sensitive hearing, you know."

"Sorry, everyone, but _Crescent Rose_ is the first thing that come to mind when I am in a dangerous situation! Besides, it's not like anyone will notice it."

All of a sudden, there was a sonic boom that echoed across Beacon Academy, shattering every window and giving everyone at the school of warriors a huge shock. "Well, Ms. Goodwitch probably won't notice now." Blake said dryly.

"What was that?!" yelled four voices from across the hall. The door to Team RWBY's room was flung open, revealing Team JNPR, who was best friends with the team of girls. Team JNPR consisted of Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. "Did Ruby go crazy on another moth?!" yelled Jaune, the leader of Team JNPR.

"Two things, Jaune. One: yes, Ruby did mistake another moth for a spider, but I don't think even she could cause this much destruction, at least with one bullet. And two: just look outside!" exclaimed Yang.

All eight students looked outside. It seemed that whatever caused the explosion landed deep in the forest of Forever Fall. Ruby privately hoped that everything within the forest was okay, well, except the _Creatures of Grimm_.

"Everyone, I think I see something in the courtyard!" Blake shouted. The members of Teams RWBY and JNPR all ran out of the room and went straight to the courtyard. Their eyes met with what were the strangest creatures any of them had met. There were four Hedgehogs, a Fox, a Bat, a Cat, an Echidna, and a Robot. All of them had strange colours, but more importantly, none were moving, and all had burn marks all over them. The robot had a few places where paint had burned off, and it was sparking a bit, too.

Normally, the young warriors would be pretty cautious about approaching strange creatures, but when they saw how hurt they were, any misgivings vanished.

"What is going on here?! Miss Xiao Long, I thought I told you to watch your temper!" exclaimed a voice in anger. The voice belonged to Glynda Goodwitch, a teacher of Beacon and main assistant to Headmaster Ozpin.

Yang, who was currently eyeing the red Echidna, simply pointed down. Goodwitch looked down, and she instantly forgot her anger. "Everyone, get these creatures to the medical wing."

Ruby went to carry the blue Hedgehog-like creature, but she bumped her foot on something. Looking down, she saw it was not a loose tile made by the fallen creatures, but rather a green gemstone that was softly pulsing and glowing. She picked it up, thinking it might be important for these strange creatures, and then helped lift the blue creature onto a stretcher.

* * *

 _Next day  
_ _Beacon Academy's Medical Wing_  
 _9:30 am_

Sonic woke first. He opened his eyes, then instantly regretted it, as it was very bright. After that he felt the pain rush through his body. It wasn't too bad, compared to the time he was killed by half of a literal Time-God, but it still hurt. He could tell that he was lying in a bed, though. He tried to open his eyes slowly, letting his eyes adjust. He was a little surprised to see a pair of cyan blue eyes just inches away from his face.

The owner of the blue eyes, known as Nora Valkyrie, did her famous "Boop" while poking Sonic's nose. He yelped in surprise and involuntarily jumped back from the contact.

"Hey, lady, back off, would ya?" asked Sonic, a little annoyed at the abuse of his nose. "Jeez, what a way to wake up a guy."

"Oh good, one of them is awake, no thanks to Miss Valkyrie." Glynda was standing a few feet away, accompanied by Team RWBY and Team JNPR.

"Don't mind Nora, she does that." explained Lie Ren. Sonic looked at the direction of the voice and saw the young man with pink eyes and highlights in his hair. "Anyways, what kind of creature are you?" asked Ren.

"Hm, I thought it would be obvious, I'm a Hedgehog!" exclaimed Sonic indignantly.

"But are you and your friends the product of some experiment from the White Fang?" asked Glynda.

"What's a White Fang? Wait, my friends…" Sonic trailed off as he looked to the left of his bed and saw the other beings from Mobius in a worse state than he was. "Oh, Chaos! Guys, I promise to answer your questions if you can tell me if somebody picked up a _Chaos Emerald_. It is a large jewel, probably the size of my fist." He held out a gloved hand in demonstration.

"Would this qualify?" asked Ruby. She pulled out the large green gem she picked up earlier.

Sonic, displaying no pain from his injuries, zipped up to Ruby, grabbed the green _Chaos Emerald_ , and stood in front of his friends. He then concentrated, and the glowing intensified.

"Chaos... Regeneration!" Sonic shouted, and all of a sudden, the Emerald shot out a beam of light at all but one of the injured Mobians, and any damage they experienced disappeared. As one, they all started to wake up.

"Whew, glad to see everyone is ok, considering that _Chaos Control_ sent us somewhere we should not be. I don't even think this is Mobius." commented Sonic.

"Of course not, Faker, did you see any other Mobian's besides us around?" asked Shadow, being his usual cranky self. He held out his hand to Sonic, and he received his favorite green _Chaos Emerald_ , which he put away in his quills.

"While I am impressed with your power, do you think you could tell us who or what you are?" said a voice. Everyone looked and saw the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin.

"Well, before we tell you anything, how about some introductions?" Sonic asked.

"Fair enough", Ozpin said, smiling. "I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch, assistant to the professor and Headmistress of the academy."

"I'm Ruby Rose. Leader of Team RWBY, which includes me, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and my older sister, Yang Xiao Long." As Ruby introduced everyone, Weiss nodded in acknowledgement, Blake also nodded, and Yang waved enthusiastically.

"H-hello, I'm Jaune Arc, and I lead Team JNPR. This includes myself, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren and I believe you have already met Nora Valkyrie."

"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic said with his traditional thumbs up.

"I'm Amy Rose, also a Hedgehog, and I am also Sonic's girlfriend!" Amy said with enthusiasm. "Amy, that hasn't and will not happen!" Sonic exclaimed in exasperation. Amy just pouted.

"Does this happen often?" asked Yang to Knuckles with a raised eyebrow.

"Far too often," sighed the crimson Mobian. "Moving on, I am Knuckles, the last guardian of the Echidna race."

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form."

"I am Rouge the Bat, but please call me Rouge."

"My name is Silver, I too am a Hedgehog and I come from the future of our world."

"I'm Blaze the Cat, a princess from another dimension. But please don't bother with formalities." The purple cat requested.

The one person who hadn't introduced himself was currently working on the robot, which clearly had something to do with the new arrivals, and was moved to the ward.

"Hey, Tails, I know you need to work on Omega, but go ahead and introduce yourself." Sonic said.

The two-tailed Fox stood up and faced everyone. "Hello, my name is Miles Prower, but everyone calls me by my nickname, Tails."

"Why are you called Tails?" asked Pyrrha in a confused manner.

"Oh, that's easy." Tails revealed his namesakes. "It may seem like a bad genetic mutation, but I really don't mind. Besides, I can do this." Tails started spinning his tails and started flying around the room, impressing the natives of Remnant. Tails landed softly and went back to work on Omega.

"So, who is the robot?" asked Jaune.

"His designation is E-123 Omega," Shadow explained. "Me, Rouge, and Omega form a team of our own, called _Team Dark_. All three of us are agents of the Guardian Unit of Nations, or G.U.N. for short, which is the military of where we come from."

"And what world is that?" asked Glynda.

Before the Mobians could answer, Tails finally finished repairing the walking arsenal.

"SYSTEMS BOOTING UP. RETRIEVING LATEST MEMORIES BEFORE UNEXPECTED SHUTDOWN." Omega stated in his robotic voice.

"If I had a Ring every time I heard that…" muttered Rouge.

"MEMORY RETRIEVAL SUCCESSFUL. ACQUIRING LOCATION... ERROR, UNABLE TO LOCATE. MOST PROBABLE CAUSE: GLITCH IN GPS-."

"No, Omega, we aren't on Mobius anymore." informed Blaze.

"No, indeed. You are on the world known as Remnant. From overhearing your conversation, can I safely assume that you are from a world known as Mobius?" asked Ozpin curiously.

"AFFIRMATIVE." Omega paused and noticed the humans. He then stood up suddenly, lifted his arms, and revealed his weapon, a rocket launcher. "ALERT! SENORS DETECTING WEAPONS IN THE VICINITY. LOCATION: THE EIGHT ABOLESCENT AND TWO ADULT HUMANS." There was a clicking noise as Omega loaded his rocket launchers. "ACTION: TERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!"


	3. Explanation

_Beacon Medical Wing_   
_9:50 am_

It seemed that in the brief time the colourful animals had been there, they were about to be responsible for the murders of two senior staff of Beacon and eight rising students.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted them! Professor, get down!" Glynda shouted, summoning a large purple glyph that protected Ozpin and teams RWBY and JNPR. Oddly, the Headmaster of Beacon was the only one that seemed unconcerned about the whole situation.

"OMEGA! STAND DOWN!" shouted Shadow. "I know this is a strange thing for me to say, but don't kill the humans! At least, not until they explain themselves."

Omega kept his gaze on the Remnant natives for a few tense seconds, then replaced his guns with his traditional robot claws for hands. "ACKNOWLEDGED."

Everyone relaxed, glad to see that murder was postponed, at least for now. Glynda dispelled her protective shield from the headmaster and students.

"I think I need a change of pants." Jaune whimpered.

"Well, your robot certainly is paranoid." Ozpin chuckled in amusement. "But to answer your question, I guess I should have explained that Beacon Academy is designed to train students to fight the monsters known as 'the _Creatures of Grimm_ ', which inhabit most of this land of Sanus. Everyone in this school has a custom weapon they practice with, and will one day use to keep the peace and protect the people."

"Wow. Pretty high stakes if you ask me." remarked Blaze.

"It never gets boring, I can tell you that much." said a smirking Weiss.

"But I assure you that we mean you no harm. All too often in this world, we segregate and insult a group of humans collectively known as the Faunus. They are humans who have developed animal-like traits." the headmaster continued.

"Really? What kind of traits?" asked Tails, who was familiar with being bullied because of his second tail.

In demonstration, Blake untied the bow on her head, revealing her black cat ears atop her head. Amy awed at the cat Faunus' ears.

"I mentioned the White Fang earlier because after the war against the Faunus, they were looked upon as second-class citizens." Glynda explained.

"The White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace between humans and Faunus, but we were still prosecuted, and a new leader transformed the White Fang from a peaceful organization to a terrorist movement. I didn't want to aid in their violence, so I left. I decided to use my skills to becoming a huntress." Blake said with a touch of sadness.

"That's very noble of you, Blake." said Silver. Blake smiled at the compliment. She tied her bow back on, covering up her animalistic heritage once more.

"DISRESPECTING OTHER BEINGS BECAUSE OF THEIR APPEARANCES SEEMS LIKE A FOOLISH WASTE OF RESOURCES." Omega commented.

"So if humans with animal traits are subjected to such cruelty, why aren't we all locked up or on a dissecting table?" asked Rouge with confusion.

"I guess what we are trying to say that when you crashed here last night, it did not matter that you looked different. You were clearly sentient beings in pain, and needed help. So you can count on our help in any way we can." Ozpin concluded.

"Well, I hate to break up a moment, but do you have anything to eat? Because I'm starving." asked the white Bat with the other Mobians agreeing with her, with the exception of Omega and Shadow.

As soon as she said that, all the beings from Mobius, with the exception of Omega, all felt hungry as well.

"Well, what do you guys normally eat?" asked Jaune.

"Where we come from, we live alongside humans, so we can eat anything that humans can eat." said Tails.

"Oh good, I will inform the chefs to bring breakfast here." Glynda walked off to the cafeteria.

"Tell them I want a mountains worth of Chili Dogs!" Sonic shouted after her.

"So, after breakfast, do you want to see our weapons? I think that you might like them." Ruby said excitedly. She just loves showing off _Crescent Rose_.

"Well, we don't have anything better to do, so sure why not?" the purple Cat said with the others accecpting Ruby's invite, espically Shadow and Omega.

* * *

As both teams walked off to make sure their weapons would be ready for presentation, Ruby had something she needed to get off her chest. "Weiss, how come you were quick to trust these guys when it took you two months to accept me as a leader, and Blake being a Faunus?"

Weiss looked away, feeling slightly ashamed. "I admit, I wasn't sure if I could trust them when I first saw them, but seeing them hurt like that, and having to re-evaluate myself after what happened with Blake, I learned that I shouldn't judge people before I get to know them. Sure, I still don't trust them, but I'll improve myself to be better."

"What makes you say that?"

"I could sense that they meant no harm. I wasn't sure about that robot when it raised its... weapons, but being suspicious wouldn't have helped."

"Wow, Weiss. I didn't expect-."

"But I will say I don't like the look of that white Bat. It's like she's a thief or something." Weiss proclaimed with a swing of her head.

"And now the old Weiss is back," sighed Ruby. "I knew it couldn't last."


	4. I want one!

_Beacon Academy's shooting range  
_ _10:30 am_

"All right, so let's start with Team JNPR." Tails requested.

Jaune pulled out _Crocea Mors_ , his sword and shield. "Now I don't blame anyone you are not that impressed. This sword was used by my great-great-grandfather when he fought in The Great War. It probably is best if it is put in a museum." He looked downcast as he said that.

"Well, I have seen worse weapons." said Tails as he looked up and down at the Arc's weapon. "It does look in excellent condition. And I have never seen a sheath that expands to a shield."

"Really? Thank you." said a relieved Jaune.

Pyrrha pulled out her weapon. "This is _Miló_ , and it has three forms. The current one is used as a javelin. The other forms are a Xiphos, which is kind of like a short sword, and a bolt-action rifle." She demonstrated the transforming of the forms. The Mobians were impressed, espically Shadow and Omega.

Next, Nora pulled out what looked like a grenade launcher. "My weapon is called _Magnhild_! But it's not only a boom-maker!" She then transformed it into a very large hammer.

"OH MAY CHAOS!" Amy squealed in delight. "I also have a hammer!" The female Hedgehog held out her hand, waved it, and to the surprise of the Beacon students, a red and yellow hammer materialized, something that Sonic is all too familier with.

"Whoa. Didn't see that one coming," said Weiss. "How did you do that?"

Amy just shrugged as she dematerialized her _Piko-Piko hammer_. "I really don't know, it's one of the biggest mysteries of Mobius."

Ren stepped forward and revealed two green pistols with large blades attached. "These are called _StormFlower_. Do not let the name fool you, these can be very dangerous."

"Are those designed to be automatic?" the Ultimate Life Form asked in curiosity.

"Indeed they are." Ren confirmed.

"Those weapons were nice, but I think we might enjoy Team RWBY's a little more. No offense, guys." the blue Hedgehog commented.

"None taken, Sonic. I do like their weapons too." replied Pyrrha in acceptance of Sonic's criticism.

"I'll go first with _Ember Celia_!" Yang shouted. Her innocuous bracelets transformed into gauntlets that went down her elbow. "These babies help me punch while shooting with a shotgun spray or missile!" Knuckles, who also fought by punching, liked Yang's weapon, a lot.

Blake pulled out her swords. "This is _Gambol Shroud_. Not only is the sheath of this sword a weapon, but the sword's alternate form is a bladed pistol." She demonstrated the folding action of the katana and then jumped in the air. While airborne, she threw her now compact sword and then pulled the trigger using the ribbon tied to the gun. This caused _Gambol Shroud_ to whip around in a frenzy. The Mobians were pretty afraid of any being caught in the radius of the weapon.

Weiss stepped forward and pulled out her rapier. "My sword's name is _Myrtenaster_."

"Why does it have a revolver chamber in between the blade and the handle?" asked Rouge.

"It changes what the swords ammunition of _Dust_." At this, Weiss spun the revolver part to the a light blue setting and fired off an ice charge. To get rid of this ice, she then changed it to a red setting and the ice melted under the attack of the Heiress' blade.

"Very impressive, Weiss. And excluding Jaune, did all of you build your own weapons?" asked Silver.

"Yep! But I think you will want to see mine!" Ruby skipped over to the Mobians, but then-

**AAARRROOOOOOOOOO!**

"Uh, what was that?" asked Silver nervously.

"SENSORS DETECT THREE LARGE CREATURES CLOSING IN ON ARE VICINITY." Omega reported.

All of a sudden, the some trees nearby were knocked down and three large black wolf-like creatures appeared, they were _Beowolves_.

"WHOA! What are those things?!" Tails screamed.

"You remember us talking about the _Creatures of Grimm_?" asked Blake.

"Wait, this school is training yous to fight those things?!" asked an astonished Blaze.

"Yep, and this is the perfect opportunity to show off what I can do!" Ruby said happily.

One of the Beowolves started to run towards the group. Ruby calmly reached behind her and pulled out _Crescent Rose_ , still in in sniper form. She pulled the trigger, leaving a headshot in the _Beowolf_. Suddenly there was a blur of motion as the red sniper rifle changed into a giant scythe. Ruby pointed the business end of the gun behind her, and then she fired. This propelled her into the dark wolf. At the right moment before bodily impact, she fired at an angle, causing her to spin and form a deadly pinwheel. Needless to say, the second _Beowolf_ had a subtle absence of a head before toppling to the ground, where it started to dissolve until there was no evidence that the creature even existed. The third _Beowolf_ took a bullet to the face as the momentum propelled Ruby in front of the Mobians.

Silver eyes looked at the Mobians as she folded _Crescent Rose_ up. "Any questions?" asked Ruby cheerfully.

All of the Mobians, except Shadow and Omega, wore stunned expressions with jaws dropped to the ground. The robot did express his opinion quite clearly, though.

"Hey, Omega, right? Why is there oil leaking from your, uh... mouth?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow, showing his confusion.

"OPTIC SENORS OVERLOADED AT SIGHT OF MAGNIFICENT BEAUTY OF WEAPON." Omega said in his monotone, black liquid still dripping.

"Translation?" asked Nora. "Some of us don't speak killer robot."

"I think Omega is drooling." answered Tails with uncertainty.

"A robot can drool? That doesn't seem physically possible." said Jaune in utter confusion.

Shadow also joined Omega in the drooling, but quickly snapped himself out of his trance and his pulled out and looked at his standard issue G.U.N. pistol, an Beretta M9 pistol, before throwing it away behind him.

"Where can I get one?/WHERE CAN I ATTAIN ONE?" the ultimate life form and walking arsenal requested simultaneously.

"Wow, those two were staring at your weapon like some kids would most likely stare at me or Rouge." remarked Yang with a simile and her hand on her hips.

"Boys." Rouge signed as her hand slapped against her forehead.


	5. And now to the Eggman

_Somewhere in Forever Fall_   
_1:00 pm_

Deep in the ever crimson forest of Forever Fall, there is a peaceful stillness broken only by insects. This stillness could not last, however, as a young _Beowolf_ was sniffing around at a conspicuous crater where there was none the day before. This was a large crater with a radius of 3 football fields. Oddly, a large dome had taken the place of a large hole. The dome had a silver sheen to it, and the only identifying mark on it besides scorch marks from atmospheric entry was a symbol that featured the head of a bald man with a large mustache. The _Beowolf_ pup put a claw on the closest symbol.

Suddenly, a door opened up on the dome and a pair of flying drones emerged. The duo quickly restrained the very surprised _Beowolf_ and dragged the screaming monster inside the dome.

Watching gleefully from a monitor, Dr. Eggman watched as the robots put the small wolf into an orb and inserted that orb into a large machine, where many other _Creatures of Grimm_ were being stored.

Orbot rolled over and popped up. "Pardon me, Boss, but are you sure this is a good idea? These monsters did make a mess of this place before you were able to capture them with the remaining Egg Pawns."

"If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," said Eggman irritably. "These creatures are very powerful, and it seems this new world is filled with them."

"But what about Sonic? If _Chaos Control_ sent us to this world, shouldn't he and his allies be here, too?" Orbot questions with concern.

"Bah! He wasn't in the station, so maybe they got sent somewhere else. At any rate, even if they did get sent to this world, there is no way they will be able to defeat my newest creations!" Eggman gloated.

"Maybe, but ah reckon that ya might want to look at this screen." Cubot said in an obnoxious cowboy accent. Clearly, the accident had scrambled his speech unit. Again.

"Eh?" Eggman looked at the screen showing one of Eggman's probes activity, and then looked away. He whipped his head back in a textbook double-take. On probe's screen, it was showing nine familiar figures, no worse for wear.

"WHAT?! Sonic survived?!" Eggman shouted in rage.

"Yep. Ah reckon that Sonic feller has got more lives than a litter of cats." Cubot observed.

"Hmm… It's too soon to attack now. I will just bide my time. Once I unleash my Dark Badniks, nothing can stop me! Not even Sonic! GAHAHAHAHA!" Eggman laughed ominously.

"And what about those eight humans?"

"GAHAHAHA… What? What humans?!" the mad scientist asked in confusion.

"Just look on the screen again." Orbot signed.

Eggman did so. He saw eight humans that were unbeknownst to him, stand alongside Sonic and his friends.

"What about them? What's so special about them?"

"Well, Doctor, they all seem to have very strange weapons. One of them killed three of those black wolves with what looked like a cross between a long-ranged rifle and a large war-scythe." informed Orbot. He rewound the footage of a probe and revealed the fight with Ruby killing the _Beowolves_.

"Hmmm… Was the probe able to scan this unusual weapon?" Eggman asked Orbot.

"Negative. Before I could initiate the scanning process, the probe went silent. The last thing it saw was a large bullet."

"It was seen?!" Eggman towered over Orbot menacingly.

"N-n-no, Doctor, it seems to have been a total coincidence! The girl that is the owner of scythe-rifle seems to use the energy from the fired bullets as momentum to jump around very quickly!" the red robot stammered. At this point, Orbot would have been sweating if he wasn't made of metal.

Eggman sat down, pondering. Orbot stood back up, relieved that his appointment for the smelting pits was delayed for the time being.

"This is an unforeseen variable. Ingenious use of the weapon, though. And the other humans use exotic weapons as well?"

"That is an affirmative, pardner. However, they're all different. Ah don't think the new bots will help against that firepower, though." Cubot said.

"Very well, do some more research; find out if there are any local metals that can assist with armor. To be defeated by that annoying Hedgehog is one thing, but to be beaten by a bunch of young brats? That's just insulting!" Eggman stood up and spread his arms. "Soon this world shall have a new name: Eggmanland!"

"Say, Orby, you really think that the boss-man's plan will work this time?" Cubot whispered to his spherical counterpart.

"Well, I don't really know, but I will say that our chances are as good that we will be the ones to pick up the pieces. Again."

"Dagnabbit."


	6. Enter the Roman

_Outside Beacon Academy's courtyards  
1:30pm_

"So, how did you guys get to this place? I didn't see a spaceship where you crashed." asked Ruby as she was very curious about these strange creatures.

"Well, in the world where we come from, we fight against a madman that wants to take over the world. A bit stereotypical I know, but if he had his way, he would have probably taken over our world many times over." Sonic explained.

"Have you fought in many battles?" asked Jaune.

"Sonic, Tails, Amy and I have been fighting this guy for many years." replied Knuckles. "His name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik."

"But we just call him Dr. Eggman." said Tails.

All the humans, and faunus, of the group chuckled at the name.

"What does he use?" asked Pyrrha.

"PRIMARY TARGET: EGGMAN, USES INFERIOR ROBOTS TO ATTEMPT WORLD DOMINATION. I AM A RARE EXAMPLE OF HIS SUCCESSFUL WORKS." Omega said with pride while the huntsmen and huntress' slowly edged away from the walking arsenal.

"Don't worry, kids. Omega has dedicated his life to toppling the Eggman Empire." Rouge reassured after seeing the humans getting nervous.

"So do any of you have special abilities? I know we already saw Tails' awesome ability." inquired Yang. The young Fox blushed a bit before he responded.

"Well, Sonic and Shadow have super speed, though Sonic is the fastest of the two. Amy also has super speed, but it's not as fast. Shadow has varies capabilities thanks to his connection to the _Chaos Force,_ Knuckles is super strong and too has a connection to the _Chaos Force_ but isn't as experienced as Shadow, Blaze is pyrokinetic, Silver is psychokinetic, and Rouge can sneak around quietly, as well as fly."

"It certainly is useful since I am a jewel thief on my days off from government work." Rouge said while striking a pose.

Weiss looked uneasy at this. "So are you going to steal my family's fortune from me?"

Rouge looked at the girl in the white dress in confusion. "Your family is into jewels?" she asked with curiosity.

"Of course. The _Schnee Dust Company_ is the major seller of energy propellant in the world," Weiss said importantly. " _Dust_ comes in all forms, and crystal forms are not uncommon."

"Well, don't worry, sweetie, I will try to shelf my love of jewels. At least until we get off of this place," Rouge reassured. "I am curious as to how energy propellant acquired the name ' _Dust_ ', though."

"It's a long story that goes back to the beginning of human life on Remnant. It's really not that important." explained Pyrrha.

"Ok, if you say so. I am surprised that humans evolved on two separate worlds with no recorded contact from each other." Tails wondered.

"Well, maybe-"

_**BOOM!** _

A thunderous crash interrupted whatever Blaze was about to say.

"Is this normal?" Silver questions in confusion.

"Let's see, explosions in the middle of the day. Of course it's normal, Silver," said Ren sarcastically. "In all seriousness, Nora can get carried away-"

"Hey, that was one time!" Nora protested.

"Guys, can we stop arguing and just find the source of the explosion?" asked Tails.

"Do we have to?" asked Jaune meekly.

"It sounded like it came from the Emerald Forest!" Blake said, disregarding Jaune.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Sonic.

They all followed Blake to a clearing next to the cliff where Teams RWBY and JNPR started their initiations. What they found surprised the Mobians.

The source of the explosion was a gunship floating just off of the cliff. Standing on the side of the ship was a familiar figure to the natives of Remnant, especially Ruby. It was a man with green eyes and orange hair dressed in a white trench coat with brown pants. On his head was a bowler hat with a feather in it. Even to those who have never seen him in person, he left a menacing impression on everyone.

"Well, fancy meeting you here, Red! We really must stop meeting like this." the nefarious criminal said. He casually put out the cigar he was smoking with his cane.

"Hey, Ruby? Who is this joker?" asked Sonic with a raised eyebrow.

"He is a big time criminal in Vale. His name is Roman Torchwick." answered Ruby with anger in her eyes.

"Is he dangerous?" asked Knuckles, who was cracking his namesakes in preparation for the inevitable fight.

"Let's see, he has a flying ship and who knows how many reinforcements in it, and he is casually smoking a cigar. Seems not that different to Ol' Egghead. It's probably nothing you can't handle, Knuckie." Rouge said while batting her eyelashes at Knuckles. The red Echidna's face matched the rest of his body as he muttered to himself.

"I know we are about to be under attack, but when we are finished here, you have got to tell me what is going on between those two." Yang whispered to Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form nodded, smirking evilly.

"My, my, my, what colourful animals you have," laughed Roman. "No matter, they won't stop me from grabbing all the _Dust_ from Beacon Academy." He lifted up his cane, _Melodic Cudgel,_ and a targeting reticule opened up. "Ta ta!"

A small missile shot out the end of his cane, but before it could reach anyone important, Omega opened up with machine gun fire that intercepted the missile, harmlessly detonating it halfway to its target.

"EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILE IS NO MATCH FOR MY SUPERIOR FIREPOWER." Omega proclaimed proudly.

"Hmph, you have a robot now. It looks so… antiquated. Certainly compared to these!" Roman proclaimed. He waved an arm and pointed at the group of heroes.

Three more airships pulled up, offloading their deadly cargo. This consisted of _AK-130 Androids_. The robots surrounded the Mobians and Beacon students. They all extracted blades from their arms.

"Hey, I remember fighting these!" Blake revealed.

"Wait, you fought these before?" asked Weiss. "When?"

"Let's just say that I fought them during my time with the White Fang," answered the Faunus. "In any case, they weren't that effective guards for that train." Weiss glared at Blake, but wisely didn't bring up the past.

"Well, let me judge how tough they are!" shouted Sonic. He became a blue blur as he jumped and spin-dashed though the robots. A familiar sight greeted the Mobians after a few minutes; large, unidentifiable piles of metal. Sonic jumped back, smiling with satisfaction. The Beacon students were stunned by the speed of the blue Hedgehog.

"Piece of cake," Sonic proclaimed. "Easier than Eggman's robots."

"Well, that was only the first wave!" shouted Torchwick, still recovering slightly at the unexpected speed of the complete decimation of the robots. "I still have an ace up my sleeve!"

Right on cue, two airships pulled up and dropped off two large shipping containers.

"Uh-oh, something tells me this isn't going to go well," said Silver worriedly.

As if to punctuate his statement, the doors on both containers were blasted off, and two huge robots walked out of each container. The four spider droids once again surrounded the group.

Now, Roman Torchwick may be a criminal, but he does know when he is outmatched. _'Time to make my escape.'_ thought Roman, as he ordered his ships to leave. He was not looking forward to reporting to _her_ about his failure. _'She's probably going to roast my ass for this.'_

"Now this is more like it!" said Knuckles eagerly. "Want to join in the fight, Yang?"

"You bet!" shouted the blonde, and they ran to one of the droids.

"Wait for me, Red!" Rouge flew after the punch-happy duo.

"Silver, Blaze, Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, you take the second one. Ren, Nora, Amy, Tails, Blake, the third. Sonic, Omega, Ruby, and I will take on the last one." the black and red Hedgehog ordered.

"I'm on board with this plan, Shads," agreed Sonic. "Let's go!"

* * *

_With Yang, Knuckles, and Rouge-_

The first mixed group of heroes was being shot at by the spider droid. Fortunately, Rouge was able to fly above it.

"Ya know, I think this might be more fun than destroying Eggman's clunkers." commented Rouge as she swooped down and kicked the robot in the head. The spider droid just shrugged off the attack with only a small dent.

"That all you got, Rouge? Let me show you how it's done!" Knuckles ran up to one of the legs and punched it with enough force to shatter diamond. The leg's outer armour shattered, but it was still working and kicked the echidna. "What is this thing made of?!"

"It's steel infused with certain types of _Dust_. Not the strongest material, but it is certainly up there!" said Yang as she fired off missiles from _Ember Celia_. The robot's limited A.I. had enough intelligence to be angry at the girl ruining its paint job, and transformed its guns into one large cannon.

"Watch out!"

Knuckles didn't have to worry, for Yang just did a backflip over the burst of energy. She was fine, but there was a slight scent of burnt hair in the air. A quick glance showed that a half inch of Yang's hair became burnt off from the top of her head. There was a very tense pause.

"You… NOBODY BURNS MY HAIR!" shouted Yang as her purple eyes turned red and her hair lit up in a small explosion.

"Hey, Knuckles? I think we might want to get out of the way." Rouge said nervously as she dragged Knuckles away from the droid.

This advice was worth listening to, for the second Knuckles was out of the way, the air was filled with gunfire. Flashes of light and plumes of smoke had hidden whatever was happening, but Knuckles was glad that Rouge had dragged him away. After a few minutes, the smoke cleared, and a figure was visible. This figure was Yang Xiao Long standing on a pile of scrap metal once known as a spider droid. There was nothing left that could be identified as part of the droid. Yang jumped off the pile in front of the red Echidna.

"Whoa. Remind me to never get on your bad side." said Knuckles as he and Yang bumped fists.

"How is everyone else doing? We should see if we can help."

* * *

_With Jaune, Pyrrha, Blaze, Silver, and Weiss-_

"I don't know what I'm doing!" shouted Jaune as he blocked a blast with his shield. While this battle wasn't as exciting as his battle with the biggest _Ursa_ in Forever Fall, it was up there.

"Don't worry Jaune, just remember what I taught you!" encouraged Pyrrha. She blasted a few rounds from _Miló_ in rifle form. The bullets just glanced off of the robot. "This is just like the _Deathstalker_ battle at our initiation!"

Silver picked up a large rock with his abilities and threw it at the droid. The rock did take off some outer armour, but the robot was still moving.

"I have to agree with you, this robot is pretty durable." remarked Weiss. She summoned a white glyph that deflected a blast.

"We've got to find a weak spot! Do you know anything that could help us, Weiss?" asked Blaze.

"Well, this particular model-" Weiss interrupted herself as she saw a fatal flaw in the robot. "What?! A Mark IV?! Those were not rated for high temperatures; they were all sold for scrap when the Mark V's came out."

"Did you say 'not rated for high temperatures'?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah, so what?"

"And didn't Tails say that Blaze was pyrokinetic?"

"Indeed I am." the Mobian Cat confirmed.

"Okay, guys, here is my plan." Jaune relayed his plan to the others.

"Jaune Arc, is that the greatest plan you could come up with?" asked Weiss incredulously.

"Why, do you have something better?" asked Silver.

"… Not really. Let's go for it!"

"Okay, break!" Pyrrha quipped.

The group dispersed with Jaune, Silver, and Pyrrha running towards the robot. Pyrrha transformed _Miló_ into its sword form and whacked the robot in the legs. Jaune blocked a leg that was about to kick Pyrrha.

Silver picked up another rock, but this time, Blaze and Weiss both shot fire at the rock, slowly melting it.

"Are you done yet? It's pretty hard for me to lift liquids." Sweat was gathering on Silver's head, and it wasn't from the ambient heat.

"Go for it, Silver!" shouted Pyrrha. She and Jaune ran out of the way as Silver hurled the molten rock at the Spider Droid. The rock, now resembling lava, splashed onto the robot. It made screeches of pain as it slowly melted. There was small bang as the crude lava melted an important part of the robot. It made powering down noises and sagged on the ground, never to rise again.

"Whoa. I actually didn't think it would work." commented Weiss.

"Well, that's another robot destroyed! I think I am beginning to see why Sonic enjoys this so much." Silver said as he kneeled in exhaustion.

"Hopefully the others had it as easy as we did." said a worried Blaze.

* * *

_With Nora, Ren, Tails, Amy, and Blake-_

"Geez, Amy, how many of those hammers do you have with you?" asked Ren dryly. All around the robot were _Piko-Piko_ hammers thrown by the pink Hedgehog. As for the robot, there were many small dents in the body, but nothing critical was hit yet.

"Well, lets me see if I can do something." said Blake. She took out _Gambol Shroud_ and turned it to pistol form.

"Are you sure that pistol will do anything to the robot?" asked Nora, who was firing _Magnhild_. "My grenades aren't doing anything to it, so why do you think that will turn the tide?"

"Just watch me." Blake launched her pistol and it embedded into the robot. She yanked on the ribbon, shooting the gun and sending the gun back at her, along with a piece of armour.

The robot, sensing that its front was vulnerable, shifted parts of the armor from its back and placed it in front, still firing at the group.

"And how does this help us?" asked Ren.

"Well, now that the armour has shifted from the back to the front-"

"That means there is now a vulnerable back!" shouted Tails in understanding. Blake nodded, smiling at the kitsune.

"Still doesn't help that we are in the front, though," said Ren. "But if it is distracted, one of us can insert a bomb in its back."

"Nora, can I use one of your grenades?"

"Since you asked so nicely, sure thing!" Nora took out a cylinder with a distinctive heart on the end. Tails took a screwdriver out and revealed the mechanical workings of the grenade.

"Tails, what are you doing?" asked Ren.

"Don't worry; Tails has been doing this for years. He knows what he's doing." said Amy confidently.

"Got it! Now all I need are a few seconds."

"Then allow me to give them to you."

With that, Ren started running towards the droid, shooting his _Stormflowers_ at the robot. Said robot turned towards the human, while Tails flew in behind it and placed the grenade into a hole in the back. The droid noticed that there was a strange animal on its back, and spun around rapidly, managing to dislodge Tails. Fortunately, he was grabbed by Blake before he could hit a tree.

"FORE!" shouted Nora as she transformed _Magnhild_ into hammer form and whacked a rock. The rock hurtled towards the robot, and hit the grenade.

There was a loud boom as the grenade exploded in the robot. It collapsed, and all the lights on it went black.

"Whew, that was close. Thanks for the save, Blake." Tails said gratefully.

Blake just kneeled down and hugged him. After a moment of surprise, Tails returned the hug.

"Uh, what's with the hug?" asked Tails. Blake stood up.

"Well, I feel that we could be good friends, since we both were bullied for being different. I have only just started to let people in, and I didn't want to lose a potential friend." Blake said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I wanna hug, too!" interrupted Nora.

"And now, the moment is gone." said Ren while shaking his head.

* * *

_With Sonic, Shadow, Omega and Ruby-_

"ENEMY ROBOT IS A WORTHY ADVERSARY!" observed Omega as he fired rockets from his arms. The droid lifted up its arms and shielded itself from the onslaught.

"Caught that, did you?" asked Shadow sarcastically. He and Sonic were spin dashing at the droid's head without success. "Got any ideas, Faker?"

"Well, Shads, maybe you should check your Emerald."

Shadow stopped with his fruitless efforts and pulled out the green _Chaos Emerald_. It was pulsating wildly to something in the vicinity.

"Um, why is it doing that?" asked Ruby, who was firing _Crescent Rose._

"SENORS INDICATE ENERGY OF ADDITIONAL _CHAOS EMERALD_ NEARBY. THE SOURCE SEEMS TO BE COMING FROM THIS DROID." observed Omega.

"Wait, so this droid isn't powered by _Dust_? It's powered by one of your gems?"

"It certainly seems that way, Ruby. Only one way to find out!" Sonic dashed along the ground at a high speed. Unfortunately, the robot kicked the Hedgehog into Omega, rendering them both helpless. The droid formed its arms into a super charged cannon.

"Not on my watch!" Ruby, with help from _Crescent Rose_ , dashing towards the robot. Just before the droid was going to fire, the large scythe ripped through the gun, leaving it useless. Omega stood up and helped Sonic get up.

"Wow, that scythe is impressive. I still can't believe you built that thing." Sonic said, gazing at _Crescent Rose_.

"I know my weapon is awesome, but that robot still wants to kill us!" shouted Ruby.

"Then allow me to finish it."

Ruby, Sonic, and Omega looked at Shadow. The black and red Hedgehog was starting to glow a malice red.

"Hey, is he ok?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, he's fine, but unless we get to some cover, we won't be fine!" said a panicked Sonic. He ran off to a safe distance while dragging Ruby and Omega.

Meanwhile, Shadow was bringing forth all the negative _Chaos Energy_ he could, and considering what his early life was like, he reached the crucial point fairly quickly. " _Chaos…_ "

The robot, oblivious to the incoming danger, pounced at the Ultimate Life Form.

**" _…BLAST!_ "**

As Shadow uttered that last word, a red sphere of destruction appeared, and anything within twenty feet of Shadow was obliterated. Needless to say, the robot was decimated. The black Hedgehog looked at the wreckage of the robot and saw something flashing. He skated over and found the source, which was the red _Chaos Emerald_.

"Is it safe to come out yet?" asked Ruby, who was hiding behind a large rock with Sonic and Omega.

"Yeah, it's fine. Well, that was fun." said Sonic.

* * *

The group of heroes, both Mobian and human, gathered at the center of the clearing. All around them were destroyed robots.

"So, what do you think?" asked Knuckles.

"You guys are awesome!" gushed Nora. "But I think that you need weapons of your own. This world is dangerous."

"As much as I hate to say this, I have to agree with Miss Hammer Head."

"HEY!" the pink Hedgehog shouted.

"Not you, Amy." Shadow held out botb the green and red _Chaos Emeralds_. "We have to make sure that nobody else can use these for evil purposes."

"You sure you don't just want a weapon for yourself?" asked Rouge. "Wait, don't answer that, we know you do."

"What is going on?! What were all those explosions?!" Glynda Goodwitch finally showed up, and she was not happy. "Why are there robot parts all over this place?!"

"Miss Goodwitch, don't be mad," begged Ruby. "but Sonic and his friends helped us stop Torchwick from robbing Beacon."

"What?" Glynda paused in shock. "You stopped Torchwick?"

"Well, we stopped his robots. Just another day for us," said a grinning Sonic. "Sorry about the mess, though."

"It was either that or die, and some of us don't want to relive that experience," remarked Shadow, the Remnant natives looked at the Ultimate Life Form in confusion. "Before any of you ask, it is a long story and really isn't that important at the moment."

"…Very well."

"Miss Goodwitch?" asked Tails meekly. "Does your school have a machine shop?"

"Yes, but why do you want to know?"

"Well, considering we might be here for a while, I thought that we should also have weapons of our own."

"But you are so young!" the headmistress protested.

"Hey, don't doubt my little bro!" defended Sonic. "He's a genius! He built the Tornado 2 when he was less than ten years old!"

"And what is this 'Tornado 2'?" demanded Glynda.

"It's a airplane. It's really not that special-"

"Pardon?" interrupted the Headmistress of Beacon Academy. "You built an airplane?"

"Yup! And I think I may be able to build another one here, after I work on some weapons!"

"Goodness… This is all very strange." Glynda took a breath. "I will talk with Professor Ozpin and you will hear his response tomorrow."

"Awesome!" cheered Sonic.

"However, I suggest you keep a low profile. We don't want to cause more of a disturbance, now. Do we?" Glynda smiled a little before walking off.

"Wait! Where do we go to get some shut-eye? We can't exactly call a hotel." said Rouge.

"There are two unused rooms next to our dorms. Maybe they could stay there?" asked Ruby.

Glynda turned around. "Indeed, Ozpin did prepare those two rooms for Sonic and his friends. You may go there to get settled in at any point. For now, just enjoy the day. I will have someone clean up the shrapnel from this fight."

"Great!" the Mobians cheered out in celebration.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse on the Vale docks-_

Sigh…

Roman Torchwick was not looking forward to reporting in to his boss. _She_ was still not happy about the robbery attempt that was thwarted by the strange girl with the floating swords. Roman pulled up a Scroll, and braced himself for the coming lash.

"Don't bother, Roman. I'm already here."

The thief jumped a foot in the air at the voice. He turned around and saw the owner of the voice. She was an attractive woman in a red dress with black hair, but any thoughts of romancing her were cut short by evil yellow eyes that seemed to glow with menace.

Recovering quickly, Roman addressed he employer, Cinder Fall. "Well, boss, I would have gotten the _Dust_ if it wasn't for an unforeseen... complication." He described the encounter with the Mobians.

"Hmm… This is most troubling. And you have proof?"

"Yes, ma'am." Roman gave Cinder a scroll that was showing footage of Sonic destroying the AK-130 droids with ease.

"And what about the Spider Droids?" demanded Cinder.

"I haven't heard anything from them, but I think we can assume that they have been successful in eliminating the creatures-"

"Don't assume anything, Roman. Or do you recall what happened the last time you underestimated an adversary?"

Roman grimaced. "I remember perfectly." Remembering his first encounter with Ruby and Glynda, as well as his failed attempted robbery of the _Dust_ shipping containers by Blake Belladonna, Sun Wukong and Penny Pollintina.

"Good. I am calling off all attempts of robbing Beacon until it is safe for us for sure." Cinder walked off, but not before giving Roman one more order:

"And if you find yourself in a convenient position, kill them."


	7. Revelation

_Beacon Academy's Headmaster's office  
_ _4:00 pm_

Any chances of the fights against Torchwick and the Grimm would have be unnoticed by the people of Vale was taken away when Ozpin received a call from V.N.N. Apparently, Newswoman Lisa Lavender had received many calls about large plumes of smoke coming from the vicinity of Beacon. Ozpin was not looking forward to revealing the Mobians. So he called up Sonic to tell him the news.

"Well, it was only a matter of time before somebody got wind of what happened this afternoon." said Sonic in between bites of a chili dog. "Actually I am surprised that it took them this long to see that something was up at this school. We didn't exactly arrive here quietly."

"Hm, true. Nevertheless, this is a delicate situation. What do you suggest we tell the media?" asked Glynda, faithfully standing by Ozpin as usual.

Sonic finished his chili dog and said, "How about we just tell them the truth? Something tells me that if we arrived here because of Eggman, he won't be far behind. It would help us tremendously if we were not just stuck in this school. No offense."

Ozpin chuckled, then said, "None taken, Sonic, I can understand your situation perfectly. You do indeed need the freedom of movement in order to stop this 'Dr. Eggman' character. However, I am worried about how the residents of this school, much less Vale or all of Remnant will react."

"Well, Professor, maybe it's time the people of this world started to stop discriminating against others with animal-like traits."

"On that, I agree wholeheartedly. So, I assume that the other Mobians agree with your sentiment? That the truth should be known?"

"Well, when we talked earlier about what would happen should the media come here, seven of us voted for it, and two were indifferent about revealing ourselves."

"Who are the two that were indifferent?" asked Glynda curiously.

"There's Omega who, and I quote, 'DOES NOT CARE WHAT THE PUNY MEATBAG THINK,' unquote,"' the blue Hedgehog mocked, "and as for Shadow, he never really likes anyone in the first place."

"… I see. Very well, you may inform your comrades that the news crew will be here in an hour."

"Sweet! Gotta go!" And with that, Sonic ran out of the room in a blue blur.

Glynda sighed. "Professor, you would think that we would be used to strange things happening on this school by now."

"Indeed."

* * *

 _Beacon's Combat arena  
_ _One hour later_

To say that Ozpin was nervous about revealing the Mobians was very accurate. Anchor Lisa Lavender had just sat down and was preparing the interview. Behind her was a small camera crew setting up cameras and lights.

"Are we good?" asked the newswoman.

The lead cameraman nodded. "Yea, we are on live in three… two… one… go!" The red light on the camera lit up.

"Good evening, citizens of Vale," Lisa spoke. "I am Lisa Lavender, and we are live at the prestigious Beacon Academy, with Headmaster Professor Ozpin."

"It is a pleasure to have you here, Miss Lavender." Ozpin said, smiling despite his discomfort.

"Professor, many of our viewers have called to inform us about dark plumes of smoke not far from Beacon. Do you think you could answer some of our questions?"

"I will certainly do my best."

"Good. Some of are viewers ask if the smoke might be related to the meteors that hit last night. Is this true?"

"Well, you could say that it is somewhat true."

"We will come back to that. What was the cause of the smoke that appeared this afternoon?"

"There was an attempted robbery of the _Dust_ storage here at this school." Ozpin adjusted his glasses, and then continued. "The ringleader of this failed attempt was Roman Torchwick."

"Goodness, Roman Torchwick?"

"Yes, and thanks to our new allies, we were able to prevent the robbery."

"New allies?" asked Lisa curiously. "Do you mean the headmasters from one of the other academies?"

"No, I think he means me and my friends." said a voice at the back of the room. The owner of this voice was something that Lisa had never seen before, and to say that Lisa was surprised by this was an understatement.

"Oh my Oum! Is that a blue Hedgehog?!" Lisa shouted, standing on her chair. She was in a bit of a panic after seeing something that seemed impossible to exist.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" asked Sonic, seeming to not care about the camera pointing at him or the news anchor on a chair.

"Lisa, please sit down," the headmaster requests, "I have yet to find a newswoman who successfully kept her career after seeing the _Creatures of Grimm_ for the first time. He is harmless compared to a _Deathstalker_." said Ozpin, who was very amused at the reactions around him.

"Hey, Professor, make that 'mostly harmless'," corrected Sonic. "I can kick butt pretty easily."

"Noted."

"I am sorry, but who and what are you?" asked Lisa, who still hadn't gained her composure, but at least she was sitting back in her chair.

"Well, Miss Lavender, was it? I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. My friends and I are not from this world, but from another we call 'Mobius'."

"So… You're aliens?"

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean, we lived among humans where we come from, so we aren't called that by them."

"How did you get here?" asked Lisa, who finally gained her wits.

It took about an hour to answer all of the newswoman's questions, during which the rest of the gang from Mobius entered the room and introduced themselves.

"All right, my final question- Do you mean us any harm?"

Sonic looked at her seriously and said, "Unless anyone harms us, we will not hurt anyone. We are considered heroes, and we promise to uphold that honor on any world."

"But you may be targeted by Anti-Faunus groups."

At this point, Tails spoke up. "I may be the youngest of the group here, but even I can see that some people need to grow up. So what if people are born with animalistic traits? You don't need to discriminate. They are still human. People back home made fun of me because of my mutation, but our differences make us special. If you are going to beat up someone because they has different ears or a tail, you are no better than the _Creatures of Grimm_."

Tails was starting to cry a bit, as he was reliving some of his traumatic experiences in his early childhood. Sonic hugged him, which Tails returned. Amy and Knuckles put reassuring hands on his back.

"Well said, Tails." remarked Blaze. All the other Mobians agreed in their own ways.

"And what of the White Fang? There may be attacks on you by them."

"Why would they attack us? We haven't really done anything to them yet. The only way I could see them attacking us is if they were working with that Roman Candlewick." said Knuckles.

"Hey, Knucklehead, haven't you heard? Some White Fang groups ARE working with him." corrected Sonic.

"… I knew that. Well, at least we know how to defend ourselves."

"OK, enough with the male posturing, we are on television." interrupted Amy.

"Apologies. Our point is," concluded Sonic, "that we fight oppression on a regular basis, and I sincerely hope that we will get along with all of the citizens while we are here. As long as you are friendly to us, we'll be friendly to you."

"Speak for yourself, Faker." "OPINIONS OF ORGANIC BEINGS DO NOT MATTER TO ME."

"Correction, seven out of nine of us will be friendly. It's probably best to ignore those two." said Rouge while sweatdropping at her teammates.

"…Very well. This is Lisa Lavender reporting live at Beacon Academy, signing out. Back to you, Cyril."

* * *

_Team RWBY's dorm  
_

Back at the dorm rooms, Teams RWBY and JNPR were watching the whole broadcast on the T.V. in Team RWBY's room.

"Well, we really should do something special for them." said Yang.

"How can we?" asked Weiss. "They all have special abilities, like our Semblances'. What could we possibly do for them?"

"Didn't Tails say he was going to build weapons?" asked Ren.

"We should help him!" exclaimed Nora in excitement.

"Yeah, let's do it!" agreed Ruby. "This will be fun!", who is also cheering in excitement.

When the Mobians arrived at their designated sleeping areas, both hunter teams told Tails of their intentions. Tails was dubious at first, but he remembered that seven out of eight of them designed and built their weapons, so he agreed to let assist him in making blueprints through the night. It was late in the evening when they finished, but Tails was getting excited about building the weapons next morning.

His only fear was the reaction the Ultimate Life Form would show if he didn't like his weapon.


	8. Winds of Change

_Sunday_   
_Streets of Vale_   
_5:00 p.m._

Tails was in the Beacon machine shop making the hopefully very awesome weapons for himself and the rest of the natives of Mobians. The members Team JNPR had to finish off some homework for Doctor Oobleck, so they could not come. Knuckles was currently trying to psychically contact Mobius, and more specifically, the _Master Emerald_. Finally, the three teammates of Team Dark were sparring in the combat arena in Beacon, causing great excitement among the students, ranging from first year teams like Teams CRDL, SSSN and SAGE to older members such as Team CVFY. As for Team RWBY, they got finished earlier that day, and Ruby suggested that the rest of them go out to the city of Vale and walk around for a bit.

While the Mobians were not too thrilled about leaving the relative safety of Beacon, the threat of "Cabin Fever" was more than willing to persuade them to leave the Academy and explore their surroundings, specially characters such as Sonic.

Team RWBY was walking along the main street of Vale with Sonic, Amy, Silver, and Blaze, when Blake noticed something strange. "Hey, is it just me, or are people being nicer to Faunus?" she asked as she saw someone holding open a door for a rabbit-eared Faunus named Velvet Scarlatina, a second-year member of Team CVFY at Beacon Academy.

"It's not you, Blake. I also see a lot of wet paint over what were 'No Faunus' allowed' notices." Yang observed.

"It also seems that more Faunus are revealing themselves. I am seeing less hats and more animal-like ears and horns." said Weiss.

"Wow, things are really changing around here. Why couldn't you guys get here sooner? I love being part of history!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"Man, Tails' speech really changed this town!" Silver picked up a newspaper. " _'Arrival of Strange Creatures, Changes Vale Forever Overnight'_ , according to the headline."

"So, are there any shops that have clothes my size?" Amy wonders.

"I doubt it. This is the first time we have been visited by creatures from another world. However, I may be able to help you out, since I am a rich individual and can hire a tailor to fit some clothes for you and the other girls, since the males seem comfortable without clothes." Weiss said with a hint of distaste at the end of her sentence. She was working very hard to overcome her prejudice against animal-like beings, but old habits die hard I guess. Plus, she seemed understandably uncomfortable about the male Mobians just wearing shoes and gloves.

"Hey, what's this place?" Blaze pointed at a fairly new establishment in Vale. There was a sign that had a picture of a bald man with an eyepatch and a monocle. Under the face, it had a sign that said _'Yarrgarita's- home of the Corpirate'_.

"Oh, that's the new dance bar that was set up about a month ago. It's been pretty popular in that short time. Partly because the bouncers don't mind underage people in here as long as they don't drink alcohol, but mostly because the other bar in town was destroyed." Blake explained. Yang looked away innocently as her little sister eyed at her.

"Really? How did that happen?" asked the white Hedgehog.

"I was trying to find someone, and the person I asked made the mistake of ripping some of my hair out." Yang said while stroking her hair lovingly.

"That's an understatement. Yang caused more damage than that guy with the rocket launcher." Ruby said dryly.

"Why is it called 'Home of the Corpirate'?" asked Weiss, who was the only Remnant native of the group who had not been to or heard of the place.

"Apparently, the owner was a big wrestling champion in his younger days. He calls himself 'The Corpirate' because he thinks of himself as a corporate pirate. He also called himself 'Yarrgarita' because he sometimes fought during his vacations." the cat Faunus informed the group.

"Well, anyway, why don't we go in? It seems like a fun place." said Sonic with a encouraging grin.

Inside the bar was your typical dance bar ambience. There were many wrestling belts on the walls of the place, and pictures showing the self-proclaimed 'Corpirate' with his former opponents. Lots of people were dancing to some music coming from a few speakers.

In fact, the thing that was really out of place was what appeared to be a random assortment of PVC pipes in the center of the stage where a karaoke sometimes took place. This stage also had a full set of rock band instruments, but they looked like they had not been used in a while, judging from the thin layer of dust.

"What's all this junk?" asked Weiss, pointing at the pipes.

"That, my dear, is a failed experiment," said a voice. The group turned around and saw a very tall man wearing a business suit. His face was the same face on the sign of the bar; this was the Corpirate himself. "I installed that, thinking that some people might like to play with the pipes as well as conventional instruments. I keep it around in the vain hope that somebody might use it. Anyway, welcome to Yarrgarita's. I'm the Corpirate. And you must be infamous Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sonic gave him his traditional thumbs up and simile. "It really is pleasant to have you here," continued the Corpirate. "It's about time this town got rid of its hatred of anything animal-related. I never discriminated against the Faunus, personally. I don't have the luxury of turning down paying customers. Plus, the bouncers, who are Faunus, seem to know who is of age and can kick them out if they get rowdy."

Right on cue, a Faunus with gorilla-like arms and legs went to the Corpirate and said, "Hey, boss, got another racist. Probably the same one from last week."

*sigh* "All right, George, you know what to do."

"Yes sir!" George went over to a table and picked up a young student (which Team RWBY recognized as Beacon Academy's bully Cardin Winchester, the leader of Team CRDL) and threw him out. Everyone at the bar cheered as George took a bow.

"I hate these Anti-Faunus extremists. Always think they are better than everyone else." The Corpirate finally took notice of Team RWBY. "And who are these lovely ladies?"

Team RWBY introduced themselves. They liked the Corpirate after seeing him getting rid of the leader of Team CRDL.

"It's wonderful to have you all here."

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Sonic questions.

"Sure, Sonic, what do you want?" asked the Corpirate.

"Well, as it happens," said a grinning Sonic, "I know a few people that might make some use out of those pipes."

"Wait… What's going on?" Yang was very confused at this point.

"I think Sonic wants to play a song, and wants us to play the instruments, including those pipes,." said Amy. Sonic gave her a thumbs up. Amy remembered back when Sonic and his cousins, Sonia and Manic, formed ' _The Undergrounds_ ' during the blue Hedgehog's younger days.

"Oo! Can we play too? I wanna sing!" interjected Ruby, who was bouncing in excitement.

"Sure, you can sing. Got something in mind that can work with these instruments?"

Ruby handed Sonic her Scroll. She had pulled up a web page with the song, and the Mobians listened to it. After a few minutes, they seemed confident enough to play it right.

"Good choice, Ruby." said Blake, who picked up a bass guitar and started to tune it.

"Well, I am fine with it as long as I get the singing lead the next song." said Weiss. She powered up a keyboard and tested it to check it's condition.

Everyone else took their places, with Sonic and Ruby playing electric guitars, Yang on the drum kit, and Silver, Blaze and Amy on the pipes. Silver picked up orange drumsticks for the bass parts, while Blaze and Amy took up small paddles of the same color.

"This should be interesting," mused the Corpirate. He picked up a microphone and signaled the DJ to cut the music. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to have in this club the most interesting people to ever land in Vale! Please welcome Sonic the Hedgehog!" There was a thunderous applause. "Let's also give a shoutout to these four girls, Team RWBY!" There was more applause as the music started.

_Corrin Campbell- Our Time Now_

**Ruby: In the palm, of your hand  
All the world ain't it grand.**

**Sonic: Feel the fire, burn inside  
Never felt, more alive.**

**Both: It's a world of false insanities  
It's a fight against the gravity.**

**Ruby: Lift me up  
Lift me up.**

**Sonic: We'll rise up!**

**Both: We are the free generation,**   
**We are a fired up nation,**   
**we are the winds of change,**   
**Cause it's our time now.**

**Ruby: Our time now!**

**Sonic: Wanna dance,**   
**Wanna sing,**   
**Wanna live,**   
**Wanna breathe.**

**Ruby: All the world, stops to stare  
Cause we arw power, everywhere!**

**Sonic: It's time for us, for us to live a truth  
It's time to let are souls brethe in our youth.**

**Ruby: Lift us up,  
Lift us up.**

**Sonic: We'll rise up!**

**Both: We are the free generation,**   
**We are a fired up nation,**   
**we are the winds of change,**   
**Cause it's our time now!**

**Sonic: Our time now!**

**Both: We are the free generation,**   
**We are a fired up nation,**   
**we are the winds of change,**   
**Cause it's our time now!**

**Ruby: Our time now!  
** **Our time nooooooooow!**   
**Our time nooooooooow!**

**Sonic: The power to save the world under our feet,  
Love to care for each living heartbeat!**

**Both: Together we stand,**   
**Divided we fall!**

**Sonic: Let me hear you cry out,  
It's out time now!**

**Crowd: Our time nooooooooow!**   
**Our time nooooooooow!**   
**Our time nooooooooow!**   
**Our time nooooooooow!**

**Ruby: We are the free generation!  
**

**Sonic: we are a fired up nation!**

**Both: We are the winds of change!**   
**Cause it's our time now,**   
**Our time now!**

**Sonic: We are the free generation!**

**Ruby: we are a fired up nation!**

**Both: We are the winds of change!**   
**Cause it's our time now,**   
**Our time nooooooooooow!**

The crowd went nuts at the conclusion of the song as Sonic and Ruby high-fived. Some people tried to give the impromptu band tips, but anything they received went to the Corpirate. Said owner was very impressed with the use of the pipes. Many people were sad to see that the group of huntress' and Mobians had to leave, but it was a school night, and the other worldly beings had to see how their childhood prodigy was doing designing the weapons.

The next day would bring both good news and bad news, however.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a long update, dealing with a bit of mortivational issues due to work.
> 
> I hope you like the little nod to the characters from Sonic Undergroud, I feel as if that Manic the Hedgehog and Sonia the Hedgehog don't get enough praise nowadays, and when they do its only in fan-made games, mods or someone else's fanfiction story.
> 
> I changed the song from the original story because I don't know the song 'Up to the Roof' by Blue Man Group, so I changed it to 'Our Time Now' by Corrin Campbell becasue personally it suites it better.
> 
> I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you later, til next time.


	9. Showcase of Feelings and Weapons

_Beacon Classroom  
_ _10:50 a.m._

**BOOM!**

The students jumped a little at the sound of thunder and lightning. It may be a different world, but Remnant gets the same weather that any other populated Earth-like planet gets. The rain today was something fierce, though.

Fortunately, the thunder managed to wake the students that were sleeping through Professor Port's lecture. The heavyset man continued speaking about his "accomplishments" of his younger days while the leader of Team RWBY resumed her doodling. Weiss was about to call her out on it, but then she saw what Ruby was drawing: the weapons that the Mobians would soon wield.

"While I don't approve of your timing," the heiress whispered, "I am glad to see that you aren't doing something completely useless."

"Now, can anyone tell me what the fastest creature in the world is?" asked Professor Port, who could see that he was losing some of his class.

As if on cue, there was a loud whooshing sound, followed by Sonic suddenly appearing through the open door with a chili dog in hand. The elderly teacher was very surprised at this interruption, and half of the class shared the feeling.

"Hey, Sonic!" said a cheerful Ruby, who was relieved that the class was turning out to be more interesting then she had thought.

Sonic faced her, and smiled at the familiar face. "Hey Ruby, 'sup?" asked Sonic.

"Oh, not much. Nice entrance, by the way." the crimsonette admitted.

"If a little dramatic…" mumbled Weiss while smoothing out her hair from the delayed wind the blue Hedgehog carried over.

"Do all of you creatures have such interesting abilities?" asked Professor Port, who recovered from the sudden appearance of the speedy blue Hedgehog.

"Nah, I'm just awesome." the Fastest Thing Alive stated with thumbs-up and simile.

"So what is the fastest creature on your planet, Mr. Sonic?"

"Well, the fastest creature is none other than… well, me!" Sonic pointed at himself.

"Really? How fast can you go?" asked Jaune.

Sonic then bolstered about his various achievements that ranged from temporarily outrunning a artificial blackhole, ran through one thousand universes overnight and, his most buzzar one of them all, scoped up a ball of water and threw it at a robot before the water evaporated or lost it's shape.

These facts shocked and slightly scared some of the students and Port along, and the Fastest Thing Alive was only scratching the surface of his feats he's done in the past, not to mention the amount of forms and powers he's used too.

"And do all… Hedgehogs on your planet go as fast as you?" asked the professor after recovery from Sonic's tales.

"Only two: me and Shadow. But I'm still considered the fastest, mostly because Shadow doesn't really run, he skates," this made the students chuckle at Sonic's remark, "Amy is fast, though not by much. As for Silver, well, he's slowest out of all of us Hedgehogs, probably because of his future being an apocalyptic wasteland."

All of the students were very impressed. "So does this mean that Sonic is the fastest creature in two worlds?" asked Blake with curiosity.

"Indeed, Miss Belladonna. But anyway, what brings you to this classroom?" demanded Professor Port.

"Hm? Oh, right. Oz wanted me to go to each of the classrooms to deliver a message. Tails has completed the weapons he was building for us, and there may be some explosions in the near future. It will probably be a good idea to stay away from the arena. Don't want anyone getting hurt!"

"Are the weapons that volatile?" asked Yang.

"No, but most of Team Dark is. I really can't see how Rouge puts up with those two…"

"… I see. Well, thank you for the warning. When will this take place?" asked the worried teacher.

"Probably around five o'clock. I think you've got time to reinforce the area and put up lots of protection for people who do want to watch. Gotta go!" And with that, Sonic dashed out to warn the other teachers about the revealing of the weapons.

* * *

 _Beacon Cafeteria  
_ _12:30 pm_

Everyone at Beacon knew at this point about the special weapons that the Mobians were going to receive later that day. Many people were talking excitedly among themselves. However, there was one person whose thoughts were not on the humanoid animals.

_'_ _God… Why can't I just tell her how I feel?'_

As the leader of Team JNPR, Jaune Arc was under a lot of pressure to make sure he led his team right. Burdened by the fact that he got into Beacon Academy by faking his transcript certainly did not help. However, the straw that broke the camel's back for him was his confused thoughts over a certain redhead girl on his team.

"So Pyrrha, you said your picture is on a cereal box?" Blaze questions with wonder.

Some of the Mobians were down in the cafeteria eating lunch with Teams RWBY and JNPR. Silver, Blaze, Amy, Sonic, and Knuckles, to be exact. The others were preparing the arena for the showcasing of the weapons. Some people thought they were paranoid, but Ruby pointed out that the black and red Hedgehog practically disintegrated a large robot with little to no visible effort via Shadow's most devastating attack: _Chaos Blast_. In the end, the teachers who doubted them were converted after seeing the footage of Shadow using _Chaos Blast_. In fact, Professor Peach even suggested that they should triple reinforcing the room.

"That's right, it was pretty neat." Pyrrha answering the fire princess.

"Eh, that's pretty cool, but I had a golden statue of myself once, until a certain knucklehead ruined it!" said Sonic, who glared at Knuckles.

"How else was I supposed to get the _Master Emerald shard_? Besides, isn't your ego big enough already?" countered the red Echidna.

"Come on, boys, enough arguing." admonished Amy.

"So how are the preparations coming for the big reveal?" asked Blake from behind a book.

"Well, I don't know where all that steel came from, but the structure of the arena has been reinforced so much not even Shadow could _Chaos Blast_ it unless he went at it for a few hours, but please don't dare him to. Should be enough to handle the weapons." said Silver with fear, remembering how destructive the Ultimate life form is without his Inhibitor Rings. "Who knows, it may also be useful if Eggman attacks."

"If he ever does." murmured blazing princess.

Ruby glanced at Jaune, and noticed that he wasn't his usual self today. "What's wrong, Jaune?"

Jaune snapped out of his thoughts. "Wha- oh, nothing."

"Do we need to break Cardin's legs?" Nora reached behind her back, ready to equip _Magnhild_.

"No, I'm not being bullied again. But… I-I gotta go."

Silver watched Jaune retreat, and then decided to confront him. Unbeknownst to everyone else, he could see that Jaune was staring at Pyrrha.

* * *

 _Hallways  
_ _12:40 pm_

"Hey, Jaune! Wait up!"

The blond turned around at looked down at Silver.

"Hey, man, what's goin on?"

"Oh, I don't know, Silver. I have all these confusing thoughts about… someone."

"Let me guess. You have a crush on Pyrrha?" asked Silver slyly.

"What?! No! She's just my friend!"

Silver gave him a look that said he was not convinced.

Jaune could see he wasn't going to get out of this, so he gave up on trying to lie about his feelings for his warrior teammate. "How obvious was I?"

"Not that obvious, but after spending some time around with someone like Amy Rose, I know when someone is lovesick."

"Oh, yeah?" countered Jaune. "I could say the same about you and Blaze!"

Now it was Silver's turn to blush and panic. "Hey, not so loud!"

"All right, all right." They both looked at each other and relaxed a bit. "Let me guess: she is so beautiful that you can't imagine being around anyone else, right?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah… She's been my best friend since we grew up together in Crisis City prior to her being sent to another dimension, but I really want to be… more than just friends." Silver stood there wringing his hands.

"I only met Pyrrha a few months ago, but she helped me get through some difficult times since I started here. She has been helping me become a better fighter, and I really don't see why she would do that. I would like to be more than friends too, but I really don't see how I can lead my team if I am dating one of my teammates."

At that point, the bell rung. "Alright, Silver, please don't mention what I told you to anyone."

"Same to you."

The two went about their separate ways. Of course, their conversation wasn't exactly secret from curious white Bat.

"Hm, so the blond likes the redhead, and Future Boy likes Princess Kitty?" mused Rouge, who was upside down eavesdropping on the conversation between Jaune and Silver. An evil grin appeared on her face. "It's not often I can play matchmaker!"

And with that, she flew off to parts unknown, ideas already going through her head.

* * *

 _Beacon's auditorium  
_ _4:55 pm_

There was lots of excitement in the atmosphere of Beacon Academy. It turned out that most of the student body was attending the revealing of the weapons of the newcomers. As a result, it was treated as a pep rally, except that this was probably going to be more entertaining.

On the main stage were several targets made out of bales of hay. Of course, some of the Mobians (mostly Shadow and Omega, though) had expressed distaste at the target choice. To compromise, Tails set up a few androids, that were salvaged and reprogrammed from Torchwick's attempted attack, for the ones who would find the destruction of robots satisfying.

Speaking of Tails, the child prodigy had gone to great lengths to conceal what the weapons were. All of the weapons were brought out by Knuckles in large rectangular cases. The only differences between them were the symbols and colors on the cases.

Glynda Goodwitch stepped up to the microphone and addressed the students. "Good evening, and welcome to a special presentation led by our esteemed guests from Mobius. These weapons that are about to be showcased were created by the technical genius of the group, Miles Prower!" There was a polite applause while Tails waved. He took the microphone from the stand.

"Alright, before I start giving these weapons to my friends, I would like to thank Miss Glynda for allowing me to use the machine shop to craft them. Also, I don't think I could have gotten very far if it weren't for Teams RWBY and JNPR. Thank you, guys!"

Said teams waved from the front row.

"All right, enough with the speeches, I want to shoot something." grumbled Shadow due to his impatience.

"Very well, I hope this weapon will please you, Shadow. Please don't kill me if you don't like it." Tails handed the Hedgehog a black and red case that had the symbol of the _Black Arms_ on it, signifying Shadow's alien heritage. There was a tense pause as Shadow opened the case.

The weapon that Shadow acquired had a very familiar look to it. "I take it you based this baby off of the _Shadow Rifle_ from the _Black Arms crisis_ , right?" Indeed, the weapon looked like a carbon copy of the _Shadow Rifle_ , with one exception: the gray parts were now red. Shadow fired the gun at a robot, and said robot disintegrated.

"Press that button on the side of the trigger," instructed Tails. Shadow did so, and the rifle quickly formed into a black and red katana with a very menacing serrated edge on the blade. He took a few experimental swings of it, and then looked at the Fox. "Tails…"

 _*Gulp*_ "Yeah?" asked Tails nervously.

"What do you call it?"

"Uh… I dubbed it ' _Crimson Dusk_ '."

There was a long pause. Shadow held out a fist, and then raised his thumb upwards, smiling. Everyone cheered in relief at the approval of the weapon. If hard to please Shadow liked his weapon, it was pretty likely the others would too.

"Rouge? Could you come here, please?"

"Sure, small fry. Let's see what you got."

Rouge opened up her case, and there were hearts in her eyes as she revealed four pistols covered in jewels. "Oh, baby! Now these are much better than those pistols that G.U.N. gives us. But how can I possibly fire four at the same time?"

"Well, do to that, I will need to borrow your heels."

Rouge was skeptical, but she honoured Tails' request. The Fox installed small latches onto them, and Rouge put them back on. "Now put two of those onto those latches, with the barrel facing down."

"I still don't see how that will help, Fox Boy."

"Then point your feet at a target and push a button near the toe of your heel."

Rouge obliged, and was rewarded with the sound of a gun going off, and a hole in the target.

"Whoa. Now I could get used to this," said Rouge approvingly. "If you don't have a name, I think I will call them ' _Lovac_ '.

"That's fine with me, I couldn't come up with a good name for them anyway," said Tails. "Okay, Knuckles, let me introduce you to your weapons, which I call the _Clan Blade_."

Tails revealed two golden gauntlets. The red Echidna put them on, and when he clenched his fists, two blades came out of each gauntlet above where his spurs would be.

Knuckles whistled at the blades. "Not bad, certainly looks better than my old _Shovel Claws_. What does this button do?"

Before Tails could do or say anything, Knuckles pushed a button on his gauntlet. There was a loud bang, and one of the bulletproof windows the front row of the audience was hiding behind suddenly had quite a bit of spider-webbing. Ruby made a note to herself to give the inventor of the glass a hefty donation.

"Okay, clearly that was a shotgun. Could you have pointed it at the target?!" demanded Weiss.

"Sorry! Sheesh, you press one button…" muttered an embarrassed Knuckles.

"… Anyway, when using the shotgun, point it at the enemy," said Tails. "Anyway, come on up, Silver!"

The Hedgehog opened up his case and pulled out two silver guns that looked very futuristic. "Nice touch with the lights, but what does it shoot?" he asked.

"It shoots out superheated plasma. Don't ask me how, I have a feeling nobody would listen to me. But if you want to see something really interesting, press the switch on the top half of the guns." instructed Tails.

Silver did so, and the guns transformed into boomerangs. "I figured you might not be so skilled at the boomerang, but I did take into account your powers. If you miss, you could use your telekinesis on it."

"Thank you, Tails. I am certainly going to enjoy using these. I think I'll call them _Shume_."

"Very well. Amy, could you come up please?"

The pink Hedgehog skipped over to Tails and opened a pink case he presented her. She pulled out a hammer similar to her _Piko-Piko hammer_ and a pair of red boots. "What's this supposed to be?"

"Well, you were by far the most difficult to make a weapon for," explained Tails sheepishly. "You already have a weapon that you use regularly, and I didn't want to make a clone of Nora's _Magnhild_."

_(In audience)_

"HIII!"

"Nora, be quiet, please." said Ren, with his head in his hand while the ginger-haired girl apologises.

_(Back to the stage)_

"Anyway, I added guns to a pair of boots that you would wear, but they would only activate when you jump using your hammer, and pressing a button on the handle." Tails pointed out the button.

"Oh, okay then!" Amy brightened when she understood how her weapon worked. " _Shinkai_ shall be the name!"

"WHAT IS MY WEAPON?" asked Omega impatiently.

Tails looked nervously at the robot. "Well, you already have an arsenal built into you, and I really couldn't think of a way to improve upon it."

"ANSWER NOT SATISFACTORY." Omega raised his arms and revealed his rocket launcher. "PREPARE FOR ANNIHILATION."

"What, seriously?!"

There was a tense pause. Omega broke it when he retracted his guns and said, "THAT WAS A JOKE. HOWEVER, I AM STILL NOT SATISFIED WITH YOUR ANSWER."

"O-okay, i-ignoring the fact that you nearly gave me a heart attack, I did produce some _Dust_ -enhanced ammunition and blueprints for grenade launchers." Tails handed a black case to Omega. "I think you should be able to scan the blueprints to form the launchers and integrate the ammunition into your weapons systems."

"CORRECT."

"* _Sigh_ * ok. Blaze, could you come up?"

The Mobian Cat walked up to Tails and received her case. Inside was a rapier with a very interesting guard.

"Very nice, Tails. But why a rapier?"

"That was my recommendation," said Sonic. "When I was in the world of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, your knight persona was skilled in using a rapier."

"You know I still don't believe you, right?" muttered Amy. "You would say anything to get out of a date with me."

Blaze, ignoring the argument between the pink and blue Hedgehogs, flipped a switch on the handle, and the blade reverse-telescoped and rotated with the handle. When that happened, the guard extended two protrusions. The end result was a very elegant bow. Sonic whistled approvingly.

"Silver mentioned that you were into archery during your time in the future with him, so I figured that would be a good weapon for you." explained Tails.

"He was right," confirmed Blaze as she smiled at a blushing Silver. "What do I use for arrows?"

"I wasn't able to make any…" Tails whimpered has the thought of ammunition for Blaze never crossed his mind.

"No, wait a minute!" interrupted Blaze, who just had an idea. She concentrated hard and was rewarded with the formation of a flaming arrow in the bow. She pulled the monofilament bowstring and let the arrow loose. The hay bale that was the target was incinerated in a matter of seconds.

" _Okibi_ shall be your name." said Blaze approvingly.

"So what's your weapon, Tails? Did you not have time to make one for yourself?" asked the cat Faunus of Team RWBY from the audience.

"My friends, I did make a weapon. I call it the _Techie Bro_!" Tails exclaimed while revealing two metal wrist bands from under his gloves. When he activated them, the left one transformed into an arm cannon, while the right one turned into a glove. He punched a button on the glove, and a transparent orange shield made of hexagonal tiles appeared.

"If you think that's cool, watch this!" Tails aimed the cannon at a hay bale and pulled a trigger. It fired a small ball that embedded itself in the hay. For five seconds nothing happened, and people were wondering if it was a dud. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning arced from the cannon to the ball bearing, and the hay started to catch on fire from the intense electricity.

"Whoa. That's shocking." quipped Yang.

"Very impressive, Bro. I knew you would make great weapons."

"Thanks, Sonic! Don't go away yet, though." Tails pulled out the final case. This one was dark blue and had a buzzsaw-like emblem on it, representing Sonic's classic Spin Dash.

"Oh, Tails, you know I don't really need a weapon. Besides, I don't like guns."

"Just open it, you won't be disappointed." insisted Tails. Sonic reluctantly opened his case.

Inside was a sheath with a sword. The sheath had blue and yellow designs on it, while the handle was gold. Sonic grabbed it and pulled the sword out slowly. After a dramatic time, the blue blur finally got the full look of the weapon.

It really had the shape of a simple sword. However, that's where the similarities ended. The blade itself was a really beautiful sapphire colour.

"Unlike Amy, I did believe you when you said you went to the world of King Arthur. Especially when you appeared out of nowhere in front of me!" exclaimed Tails. "I know it doesn't talk, but I hope this sword will remind you of your companion."

Sonic smiled fondly at the memory of his friend _Caliburn_. "Thank you. Did you come up with a name for this beauty?" He swung the sword a few times.

"I wanted to leave that to you, bro."

Sonic grinned. "I call this the _Cobalt Shard_!"

Any further comment about the sword was interrupted by a loud voice saying "Knock knock!", followed by a loud bang. However, instead of the wall breaking, there was the sound of metal striking metal, followed by a few seconds of cursing. Apparently, the reinforcing of the arena paid off, but not in the way anyone expected.

"What the Grimm is going on?!" shouted Glynda.

The voice of Professor Ozpin suddenly rang out through loudspeakers. _"All students listen up. We have heavily armed intruders attempting to enter the arena. Prepare for combat!"_

"Don't tell me Torchwick is back!" groaned Ruby.

"After that thrashing we gave him, I seriously doubt he would show up here. At least not for a month or two." remarked Sonic.

"Then who is attacking us?" wondered Blaze.

Finally, a section of wall was forced open, and a figure that was very familiar to the Mobians appeared.

"Somehow, I am not surprised at this." Shadow loaded _Crimson Dusk_ with a fresh magazine.

Hovering over the students was a large pod was someone unknown to the Remnant natives, but to the Mobians, he was a hated enemy.

"Who is this guy, Sonic?" asked Weiss, who seemed to notice that the Mobians were looking at the new arrival with anger.

Sonic snarled and answered with one word:

"Eggman!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took awhile because the original author had them split in two so I'd decided it would be better to save time.
> 
> I used some of Sonic's feats from his Archie comics counterpart because why the hell not, plus some Archie Sonic characters maybe referenced in the future at some point or another.
> 
> The Mobians weapons remain unchanged from the original, meaning:  
> -Silver's weapon are a pair of silver Plasma Rifles from the Halo series.  
> -Rouge's weapons are similar to Bayonetta's four pistols  
> -Knuckles' weapons are akin to the Yautja's wrist blades from the Predator movies.
> 
> I hope you like what your reading and I'll see ya in the next chapter, laters.


	10. First Blood

_Beacon Arena  
_ _5:30 p.m._

Everyone in the building stared at the man in the hoverpod, now identified as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. There was a lot of tension in the air.

"You mean Fatty McBiglarge over there is the enemy you keep talking about!?" asked Ruby innocently.

At this, the tension broke as everyone burst out laughing, with the Mobians laughing the most.

"Fatty McBiglarge?! I gotta remember that one!" Sonic laughed out uncontrollably. Even Shadow, being the serious member of the group, had to lean against Omega for how hard he was laughing.

"Um, Boss? I don't think they are intimidated by you." observed Orbot. He and Cubot were in the hoverpod with Eggman.

"What was your first clue, Sherlock?" asked Eggman sarcastically. The laughter at his expense continued for a while. Eventually, he pulled out a laser pistol and shot the ceiling.

Everyone suddenly became serious, though there were still pockets of people snickering, Yang and Nora being among them.

"He doesn't seem that dangerous." commented Yang as she recovers from her laughter.

"Believe me, he is very dangerous. He may be a madman, but he is a very intelligent madman." Tails warned.

"Oh, man. That's the worst kind!" groaned Jaune while the others had to agree with him on that.

"How come you're by yourself, Egg-head? I'm surprised you don't have an army by now." said Knuckles.

Now, it was Eggman's turn to laugh. "Just look down, genius."

Everyone did so, and was surprised to see a large amount of robots that had entered the arena. To the Mobians, they looked like normal Egg Pawns, but instead of the normal garish orange, the metal was black. "Kind of an improvement, all things considered." Shadow light-heartedly admits.

"How can you miss those, Knuckles!?" Silver screamed out while preparing his weapons, _Shume,_ for battle.

"Soon, everyone will bow before me! GAHAHAHAHA!" proclaimed Eggman. His laughter was interrupted as every student in Beacon who had a their weapons pointed at Eggman and his Dark Pawns.

Glynda stepped forward with a predatory grin on her face and her weapon in her left hand. "I know that you and our Mobian guests are new to this world, but you really should have picked up the fact that Beacon is an academy that trains students to fight evil, ranging from the Grimm to criminals like you." She gestured around her. "Do you really think that you could get away with something like this without a fight?"

"A fight against what? A bunch of cheap weapons that would never hold up in a real battle?"

Suddenly there was a loud " **THUNK** " sound as a pink grenade got launched into the middle of the robot horde. The resulting explosion took out three of the robots. Nora smiled as she put down _Magnhild_. "Still think they're cheap!?"

"Boss-man, Ah reckon' that we may be in over our heads here." whispered Cubot.

For once, Eggman seemed to agree. "My quarrel is with that Hedgehog, not with you. Mark my words, I WILL establish the Eggman Empire soon. For now, allow me to fight Sonic."

"Deal!" shouted the Blue Blur, as he performed his classic Spin Dashed towards the Dark Pawns. To everyone's surprise, Sonic just bounced off, with no visible damageto the robot.

"Ohohohoho! Your Spin Dash technique won't work on these Pawns!" boasted Eggman with overconfidence.

"Indeed. This new metal is ten times as hard as the steel used from previous robots." Orbot informed.

Sonic tried a new tactic. He revealed _Cobalt Shard_ and hacked away at the robots. Soon the sound of robot dismemberment was in the air. Forcing the mad doctor to order the attack, while the blue blur charged at he horde.

"Come on, guys, let's not allow Sonic have all the fun!" With that, Shadow skated towards the Dark Pawns, firing _Crimson Dusk,_ while the rest of the Mobians followed suit.

Meanwhile, the Beacon students stood a respectful distance out of harm's way. "You think that they will be okay out there? I mean, they did receive those weapons only ten minutes ago." said a worried Blake, thinking that the Mobians are in way over their heads.

Ruby, on the other hand, wasn't worried at all. "Come on, Blake, this isn't like our Initiation where I had to come up with a crazy plan. It's pretty much a guaranteed win for Sonic as far as I'm concerned." Ruby held very little doubt in her mind as she somehow knew the Mobians would come out on top.

Back at the fight, Knuckles was punching away at the robots, dodging various blades and bullets. Not surprisingly, he was still a little unsure about his new weapons. However, when a Dark Pawn came at him with a large sword, he instinctively activated the blades and punched the robot's gut. The punch turned into a stab, and the robot shut down from the fatal hit. Knuckles had to dodge a bullet from another robot, but before that, he could have sworn that the liquid on his blade was not the typical oil, but something that was... darker.

Rouge was flying through the air shooting the pistols in her hands, but when a Dark Pawn tried to grab her, she simply triggered the heel pistols. The result: the robot did not have an arm anymore.

If someone had asked what Silver and Blaze were doing, the answer would be described as a thing of beauty. Silver was firing _Shume_ , using the boomerang function to knock enemies over when the weapons needed to cool off. Blaze waved _Okibi,_ in it rapier form, around in a circle while channeling her pyrokinetic abilities, transforming into a deadly fire tornado.

Tails and Amy made sure the robots didn't get near the students in case Eggman had any ideas about taking hostages. The pink Hedgehog could be seen pancaking robots with her _Piko-Piko_ _hammer_ , occasionally using the guns on her boots to great effect. Tails took a more ranged approach. He simply fired off many ball bearings from _Techie Bro_ , and then fired out lightning from the arm cannon to those bearings. Any robots in between the bearings and the cannon soon became charred husks of metal.

Omega was busy using his machine guns while he downloaded the plans for the grenade launcher. Finally, the download was finished, and the parts that made his machine guns shifted into two large barrels. Of course, Omega wasn't completely satisfied, so he made a subtle change. In a few seconds, a large blade appeared underneath the barrel of the launchers. Eager to show off, Omega started to hack and slash using the blades. Often, he would insert a blade into a robot, and then activate his grenade launcher, embedding a live explosive in said robot. The Dark Pawn would comically try to get it out before it exploded, but it was a futile attempt. "I AM MISTAKING, THIS WEAPON IS VERY SATISFACTORY." the walking arsenal commented with joy, while Ruby squealed in excitement over the new weapon Omega downloaded and upgraded.

Shadow was in his element. He hadn't had this much fun since beating up aliens during the _Black Arms crisis_. He would switch _Crimson Dusk_ between gun and sword mode often, mixing it up between shooting and stabbing. He also would teleport around via _Chaos Control_ , confusing the heck out of the Dark Pawns before ending their brief existence.

Eggman looked on in dismay. "Where and when did they get these weapons?!" he asked in horror while the last of the robots are being destroyed.

Several minutes have passed, and there were no robots left functional. The arena was littered with robot parts, burn marks, and bullet holes.

"Doctor, I think this calls for a strategic advance to the rear." Orbot recommended with fear in his tone.

Cubot looked at him with confusion. "Huh?"

"I think he means run away!" shouted Tails.

"Don't think that this is over," warned Eggman as his hoverpod started to exit the hole in the arena. "You may have defeated this army, but you will never find out what kind of scheme I am hatching!"

On cue, there was the sudden sound of a rimshot after Eggman uttered that proclamation. All heads turned to look at a lone Dark Pawn, who somehow got his hands on a drum kit during the battle.

Sonic lost his composure and started to laugh. "Okay, tell me that was planned, because that joke was too good to be accidental."

Eggman looked at his nemesis in anger. "What are you talking about?!"

"You said that … We would never… find out what… you are hatching!" Sonic managed to say between laughs.

"And how is that funny?! You should be quivering in fear, not laughter!" said Eggman, now thoroughly annoyed and angry.

"It's because your name is Eggman! Get it? Egg, hatching…" explained Sonic.

At this, everyone connected the dots and joined the Fastest Ting Alive in the laughter.

"Gee, Ah reckon' you could be a comedy man, boss." said Cubot.

Eggman sighed to himself and shot the robot that did the rimshot. "Don't be too proud of yourselves, those were the easy ones!" he yelled as he exited the hole.

"We've heard that before!" shouted Shadow in retaliation.

"Well done, Sonic. You and your friends did an excellent job of destroying those robots," Glynda complimented. "And with unfamiliar weapons, no less."

"Its not unfamiliar to me," Sonic stated as he remembers his time with Caliburn and being titled 'Sir Sonic, Knight of the Wind', "but its good to get back into the swing of it again." he said as he swings _Cobalt Shard_ around.

"Just part of the days' work!" replied Knuckles as he activated his _Clan Blade's_ blades.

"Hey Knux, what's that tar-like stuff on your blades?" asked Yang.

Knuckles looked and saw that there was indeed a black substance dripping from his blades. "I don't know…"

"Guys, check this out!"

Everyone went over to Tails, who was busy opening up a Dark Pawn. He finally opened it and revealed something… kind of disturbing, even for Eggman to do. In the middle of the robot was a small black bird with white bone-like armour covering its head, a _Nevermore_ if Tails remembers, that was compacted into a small sphere with many electrodes inserted into it.

"What? What does this mean?" asked Pyrrha in confusion.

Shadow tried to explain to the Remnant natives. "It seems these Dark Pawns are actually Badniks. Normally, Badniks are robots powered by small animals. However, now they are powered by-"

"The _Creatures of Grimm_." Ruby finished grimly and horrified with the discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omega's newly downloaded weapon is the Brute Shot from the Halo series too, or Agent Maine's/The Meta's grenade launder from Red vs Blue.


	11. Aftermath

_Team RWBY's dorm  
_ _8:00 p.m._

It was a few hours after the battle with Eggman's Dark Pawns, most of the students at Beacon were gossiping over the events of the late afternoon. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were in Team RWBY's room, discussing of the events that have unfolded.

"Robots powered by dark creatures. That reminds me of the _Dark Gaia incident_ back on Mobius." Sonic reminisced. He reached under his glove and felt the charm that was given to him by Chip, otherwise known as Light Gaia.

"Technically, it was only Eggman's 'Ultra-Hyper Prototype 1', or the Egg Dragoon, that was powered by the energy of _Dark Gaia._ " Tails corrected his brother-like figure.

"Well, whatever. Maybe we should just sit back and relax until his plan inevitably blows up in his mustache." suggested Knuckles.

"Be as it may," interrupted Yang, "we should still fight his robots until that moment." as she bumps her fists together with excitement.

"Oh, yeah. Absolutely!" Knuckles agreed as he and Yang bumped fists. They seemed to be hitting it off well.

"Hey, can I ask you all something?"

Everyone turned their attention to Amy Rose.

"When we were fighting that Torchwick guy, I noticed that some of you could do stuff not associated with your weapons. Like when Yang impersonated Omega and destroyed that one spider droid."

"Well, for your information, some of the humans and Faunus' have special powers. We call them 'Semblances'. People with very powerful or unique Semblances' end up in the academy. Not all people who have them go to warrior academies like Beacon, but most do."

"Semblances' are powered by Aura and they can relate to ones personality and traits, however not all Semblances do connect to their characteristics." Blake added on.

"Really?" Amy looked at Weiss with interest. "What are your… Semblances?"

"You already know mine." said Yang cheerfully while the Mobians remembering the blonde brawlers hair on fire and here eyes change red, it almost resembled the Super State Sonic, Shadow and Silver attained so many times.

"Yup, cut one hair, and she goes nuts." confirmed Knuckles.

"My Semblance is actually pretty simple. I can leave afterimages of myself when fighting. Plus, my Faunus characteristics give me better hearing and sight in the dark." said Blake.

"I can summon glyphs that can do a variety of things, depending on what I want them to do, plus I can add _Dust_ to them if need be," Weiss said proudly. "But I think Sonic will like Ruby's, in all honesty."

"Really? Why is that?" asked Sonic in curiosity.

"My semblance is super speed."

"Woo! Another speed demon!" Sonic high-fived Ruby. "How fast can you go?"

"Nowhere near as fast as you, or for long, but I am very dangerous over short distances. Though I think I can barely reach the speed of sound without anything weighting me down."

"I take it that _Crescent Rose_ compensates with those long distance kills?" asked Tails.

"Yep!" said Ruby.

"What are you working on, Tails?" Blake wonders.

The two-tailed Fox was currently working on his Miles Electric pad, which had a few electrodes trailing to the red _Chaos Emerald_.

"Well, I am trying to make a _Chaos Emerald_ locator. Considering we got here by _Chaos Control_ , and that these two emeralds are already here, I think it's safe to assume that the other five are in this world," he explained. "Besides, we don't want a super powerful Eggman on the loose."

Suddenly, the _Chaos Emerald_ started glowing brightly. "Whoa, what's happening?" asked Ruby in alarm.

On Tails' Miles Electric, the screen suddenly showed a map of the Kingdom of Vale. "I think that the detector is working!" exclaimed Sonic in delight. However, when a dot appeared in the middle of the bay, his happy expression comically turned into fear. "Oh boy, not good not good!"

"What makes you say that, bro?" Tails took a closer look at the map. "Oh, okay now I see why your scared."

"It's just in the middle of the bay. You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Weiss, I think Sonic is scared of water." giggled Ruby.

"My Sonniku isn't afraid of anything!" proclaimed Amy. Then she saw the screen. "Okay, he can't stand water."

"Hm… this could be a problem. And I am talking about logistics, not Sonic's hydrophobia. How can we even get there?" wondered Tails.

"Maybe we could hire a boat?" the red Echidna suggested as everyone stared at Knuckles like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. "… What?"

"Wait a minute, I know someone who owes me a favor. I can get us a boat, no problem," said Yang.

"I guess we can make Sonic a lookout, then." said Blake, who looked very amused at Sonic's expression.

"Great, staring at miles of water. Woo." said Sonic deadpanned.

* * *

 _Beacon hallways  
_ _8:30 p.m._

Meanwhile, Rouge was hard at work at thinking of a way to get Jaune and Pyrrha together. She was so busy that she jumped when she felt a poke on her wing. Because Rouge was on the ceiling when she was startled, she of course ended up on the ground. She looked up and saw a girl from Team RWBY.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Weiss. She was on her way to get changed for sleep, but saw Rouge being secretive. "Are you planning to steal my fortune?"

"Sweetie, I promised you I would not steal from you," answered the annoyed Bat. "If I'm gonna steal jewels from anyone, it's gonna be from Eggman, Torchwick, or a jewelry shop, and maybe even from Knuckles just to annoy him."

"Well, sorry, you looked pretty suspicious up there."

"I forgive you."

Weiss was still curious about what she was doing though, so she asked her.

"Well, before I say anything, how much do you gossip?"

Weiss haughtily replied, "Ugh, I don't really care about the lives of others unless it directly affe-." She suddenly donned a pained expression. "Sorry, I really need to stop saying things like that. I almost lost a friend because of my behavior."

Rouge's expression softened. Clearly, Weiss was a girl who had a relatively easy life compared to some, and overcoming those years of indifference and prejudices acquired from a wealthy lifestyle were pretty exhausting.

"If you don't mind me asking, but," Rouge wonders, "how did you get that scar across your eye?"

Weiss gestured to her scar on her face. "I received it from a fight with a giant armoured knight. I thought the lesson I learned was to be better than everyone else, but I guess I really needed to learn that I have flaws like everyone else. Otherwise, I would end up being no different than the monsters I fight."

Rouge was suddenly embraced by the ice heiress. She returned the hug.

"Weiss, honey, I am glad that you know that you are not perfect. It is hard thing to admit to yourself, but you have friends that can help you be a better person. And you can consider me a friend as well."

"Thank you for listening. So, about that gossip…"

"Well, this afternoon, I found two potential couples. The Hedgehog Silver has a thing for the purple Cat, Blaze." whispered Rouge while grinning.

"Really? Now that I think about it, they did look great together when fighting all those robots. They would make a cute couple. And the other one?"

"You know that Jaune fellow, right? He apparently likes that redhead from his team."

Weiss looked shocked. "Jaune likes Pyrrha? Hmmm… I have seen Pyrrha look at Jaune with lovey-dovey eyes, but he likes her, too?"

Rouge was confused. "What, she likes him?"

"It seemed pretty obvious to me when I first saw them meet. Jaune is more naïve than I thought if he can't see that his crush is reciprocated."

The new friends continued to come up with plans to get those couples together late into the night. They eventually did come up with a plan, but it would have to be implemented on the weekend.

* * *

 _Warehouse district  
_ _12:00 a.m._

"Hm…"

Roman Torchwick was currently pacing in his seaside hideout. He was still mad at the humiliation at the hands of Sonic and his friends from a few days ago, beating by kids is one thing, but literally animals is another.

 _"What can I do to get into a position to kill those meddling animals…"_ he thought to himself.

"Don't tell me you are still trying to come up with a plan to kill those Mobians." a voice rang out. Roman jumped about three feet in the air before pointing _Melodic Cudgel_ at the voice. He put it down when he saw that it was Cinder.

"Well, hello there. What are you doing here, boss? And where are your two associates?"

"They had a previous engagement. I have someone else I would like you to meet."

Inwardly, Roman gulped. He was not looking forward to this. "And who, pray tell, is this person?"

A door opened up, and in stepped a large man with a red jacket, black pants, and a large brown mustache. "May I introduce our new business associate, Dr. Ivo Robotnik."

"Cinder, my dear, you don't need to be so formal. Since this partnership might become very profitable for all of us," the man grinned evilly, "why don't you call me… Dr. Eggman?"


	12. Out in Sea

_Vale's docks  
_ _10:25 a.m._

That morning, Sonic talked to Glynda Goodwitch about the _Chaos Emerald_ in the bay. Since the arena was being repaired after the fight, she decided that there would be no classes that day, and gave Sonic the okay to take Team RWBY on the Emerald hunt. Not surprisingly, Team JNPR still had some work to do, so they couldn't go. They did promise Sonic and Co. that they would be available next time.

"You sure that's the right boat?"

Weiss was not happy about the ship that Yang was able to acquire. It looked like an old cargo hauler that should have been sent to scrap a long time ago. The state of disrepair was enormous, and there was so much rust that everyone was quite surprised that the wake of the ship wasn't orange. On the side of the ship was the name ' _Normandy'_ in faded letters.

"Yep. Ain't she a beaut?" Everyone turned and saw a man that looked like an unsuccessful pirate. He had long, greasy black hair, an eyepatch, a light brown shirt covering a huge belly, black pants, and a coat that was threadbare at the edges. He even came with a peg leg.

"The name's John Smith. Which one of ye be Yang Xiao Long?"

"Oh, Chaos, this reminds me of that one Echidna's during that incident with the _Nocturnus clan."_ groaned Rouge as events during her time in the _Twilight Cage_ played in her mind.

"Who gives a heck about the pirate accent? How about his name?" wondered Knuckles.

"Just so you know, John Smith is a name that's pretty common in our world." Tails supplied to Team RWBY.

Yang walked up to the pirate and clasped hands with him. "Thanks for taking us on short notice."

"Argh, even if I didn't owe ya a favour, I would still help ye. After all, who wouldn't want to help these scallywags?"

"I hope you wash your hands afterwards." said Ruby as she backs away from her half-sister.

"Can we just get in the boat before Sonic loses his nerve?" asked Silver.

As if to emphasize his point, Amy walked by dragging the blue Hedgehog in question on the ground. Everyone quickly boarded, and the ship got under way.

On the boat, everyone looked at the sorry mess the deck was in. "What kind of ship is this?" the heiress exclaimed in disgust. "I could have procured a better ship than this!"

"Something's not right…" whispered Shadow to Rouge. He dragged a glove across a rusted guide rail, yet his glove did not pick up any rust, non at all in fact.

"You're telling me. If that accent is real, then I'm an a member of the _Babylon Rogues_."

Omega performed a scan of the ship. "HOSTILES DETECTED. PREPARING COUNTERMEASURES." He revealed his grenade launchers. Everyone besides Sonic and Yang pointed their weapons at Smith.

"Okay, what's the big deal?" demanded the Ultimate Life Form. "And drop the accent, it's pretty annoying."

"Yang? Can I tell them?" Smith signed in relief. To white Bat's relief, he didn't continue his impersonation of some typical stereotype-like sea-pirate.

"Go ahead, John." the blonde brawler responded.

John Smith reached over the top of his head and pulled his hair. Before anyone could comment on it, he ended pulling his whole face off. Clearly, the 'face' was actually a well-made mask. He really had short hair, almost buzz-cut, bright blue eyes, and a tanned complexion.

"I knew it!" Ruby exclaimed with a false claim.

"Well, the jig is up, fellas. Come on out."

At Smith's request, many people came out of holes in the ship, wearing all black and carrying the latest high-tech weapons, some that even the Schnee even recognises.

"What the heck is this ship?" wondered Silver out loud. "And how did these guys owe Yang a favour?"

"Meet me in the bridge later, and I will answer any questions you may have. I gotta change outta this disguise."

* * *

_30 minutes later-_

As Team RWBY and the Mobians waited for Smith (who the crew now identified as Shepard), an Engineer by the name of Isaac Clarke gave them a tour of the _Normandy_. It turned out that the depilated exterior was just a façade. Inside the ship, all the equipment was high-tech, and no expense was spared on the comfort of the crew. The engines were based on _Magnetohydrodynamic technology_.

Magnetohydrodynamic technology is basically engines ran on salt water. The technology was experimental and still in development for commercial use, but special organizations like theirs got the latest and greatest first.

"What is your 'organization' called?" asked Rouge. They finally arrived at the bridge of the ship, and it looked like something from a science fiction movie. There was a hologram that showed a map of the surrounding waters on the main display.

"We call ourselves ' _The Company_.'"

Everyone turned and saw Shepard. He had changed out of his disguise and no longer had the large gut- apparently also part of the ruse. He still had a fake leg, though. "We are a for-profit organization, but we like to think that we are superior to groups like the White Fang or whatever group Torchwick has come up with. We only take contracts that are beneficial to other people. For example, say a wealthy philanthropist has a child that was kidnapped. After a lengthy background check through our contacts at the government, we go in and rescue that child. We also destabilize terrorist organizations that may spring up. Sometimes we even get called to 'remove' any populations of _Creatures of Grimm_ that may endanger towns beyond the reach of Hunters or Huntresses."

"Glad to see you ditched the pirate stuff, but why do you still have the peg leg?" asked Blake.

"Well, this happened about two years ago, give or take. We were on a mission rescuing some hostages off the coast of Vytal when an _Akula_ attacked the small boat we were in."

"Wait, what's an _Akula_?" asked Ruby.

Shepard walked over to the display and pulled up a picture of a large shark-like _Creature of Grimm_. "Nasty fish, those _Akula_. It ended up flipping the boat. I tried to get the hostages above the water, but it bit me below the right knee. It would have eaten the rest of me, had a certain blonde not been there to kill it." he finished as he looks at Yang.

"Right place, right time!" said Yang cheerfully. "I managed to save him and the hostages before any more showed up."

"Couldn't save my leg though. Still, it beats being digested, right?" Shepard laughed. "Anyway, after this, we're even, right Yang?"

"Slate's clean." she agreed.

"Excuse me, can I hook up my pad to your system?" requested Tails. "I think I could find what we are searching for more easily with your system."

"Clarke? Help this young Fox please, will ya?" Shepard requested his engineer.

"Yes, sir!" Isaac saluted, then walked over to Tails.

"I gotta say, this is pretty neat. I have never been on a ship this advanced." Silver complimented.

"Considering you are from the future, that says a lot." Weiss comments to the futuristic Hedgehog.

Shepard suddenly noticed someone was missing. "Hey, where did the blue one go?"

"Probably hiding in a closet." snickered Knuckles.

"I'm right here, guys!" Sonic's voice could be heard under the table that had the holograms.

"What's with him?" Shepard questions in confusion.

"BLUE HEDGEHOG HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH HYDROPHOBIA." Omega summaries.

"Really? Huh, that could be a problem. Hey, how about you go to the Combat Simulator? I am sure that could get your mind focused on something other than our surroundings."

Sonic crawled out from under the table. "Alright, I guess it's worth a shot. I could use a sparring partner. Hey Shads, you up for it?"

"Always, Faker. You guys wanna watch?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Ruby.

"You guys go on, I have a ship to run." said Shepard as everyone left the bridge.

A few hours of sparring with Shadow did indeed help Sonic distract him from his phobia. However, it came back in full force when Tails reported the _Chaos Emerald's_ location.

"YOU'RE TELLING ME IT'S 200 FEET BELOW US?!" and it didn't help whatsoever.


	13. Deep We Go

_Normandy's Bridge  
_ _1:00 P.M_.

"Wow, Sonic, for a guy who's an adrenaline junkie, you sure are scared when it comes to water." said an amused Ruby. Sonic had resumed hiding under the holotable, and everyone couldn't help but tease him about it.

"Heck, even Blaze isn't that scared of water, and she's a Cat! With fire abilities!" exclaimed Silver.

"Yeah, it's true. I mean, water is more an inconvenience than anything else to me." she admits. "Plus, my home dimension as literally filled with water."

"You guys go on and get the _Chaos Emerald_. I'm not leaving this spot."

"Has he always been afraid of water?" asked Shepard.

"Yep. Ever since I have known him, Sonic is a complete chicken around large bodies of water." said Tails.

"TAILS!"

"Sorry, bro, had to be said." the two-tailed Fox apologises.

"Can we just move on? Let's get the _Chaos Emerald_ before Faker here breaks out in hives or something." said Shadow in an annoyed tone.

"How are we gonna get it, though? It's 200 feet below us." wondered Blake.

Shepard called up another screen. "Well, lucky for you, we just got a new toy that could help you out. I will get one of my people to assist you." Shepard told the group as he picks up his radio, "Tali, could you come up to the docking bay? We need to go underwater."

 _"Sure thing, Shep."_ a female voice said from the other end of the radio.

"Come with me, I'll lead you to the bay. Before I do that, though…" Shepard suddenly had a mischievous look on his face. He whispered something to Amy, and she giggled and nodded.

"Oh, Sonic, if you don't come with us to get the _Chaos Emerald_ , we might end up locking you and Miss Rose in one of the closets." Shepard said in a sing-song voice.

There was a pause, and then Sonic said, "You wouldn't!"

"Look at it this way, Sonic. You have two options. Option A: is we all go and get the _Chaos Emerald_ so Eggman doesn't get it and Option B: has everyone getting the _Chaos Emerald_ while you and I are in a closet. Either way, I win." said Amy smugly.

"Man, that's a low blow. But maybe you should stay, Sonic. I think you might finally develop feelings for Amy!" heckled Knuckles.

"I wouldn't mind being in a closet with Blaze." Silver whispered under his breath. Rouge glanced at him, smiling to herself, while fiery kitty in question heard nothing.

"Alright, alright, I'm comin' out. Let's just get this over with." groaned Sonic as he got out from under the table.

Weiss did look worried, however. "I'm assuming that we will be retrieving the _Chaos Emerald_ via submarine, correct?"

"Control-Alt-Bingo." Shepard confirmed.

"So won't air and space be a problem? Even though this ship is more advanced than I thought, I really can't see it storing a large vehicle like that without someone noticing." asked a concerned white Hedgehog.

"Oh ye of little faith. This submarine has experimental tech that seems to be working beautifully, and we have the latest and greatest in air recycling. Believe me, our motto is Safety Third."

"Why isn't it Safety First?" asked the two-tailed Fox.

"Think of it this way: if safety is the number one concern all the time, people become complacent. That complacency can get more people hurt. So we like to mix it up a little."

"Does it work?" Ruby asked dubiously and curiosity.

"The only accident we have had in the five years we have been in business is the one where I lost my leg. Anyway, don't you have to find an Emerald?"

Isaac guided them to the docking bay where a submarine was being lowered into the water. The sub in question was not the typical cigar shape. Instead, it was more like a large manta ray.

Sonic whistled in admiration. "I know I am pretty nervous about going underwater, - big understatement, I know- but that is one sweet ride."

"Thank you, I designed it myself." Everyone turned and saw a woman about average height with black hair and crimson eyes. She had black pants, a blue shirt, and polished green gauntlets. She also had a large squirrel tail running up her back.

"OH MY OUM! Your tail is so cute!" Ruby squealed.

The woman blushed a little at the compliment and thanked Ruby for it. "I'm Natalia Williams, but everyone calls me Tali. Hope you don't mind working with a Faunus on this trip."

"I think we will get along just fine. Blake here is a Faunus too, and we are friends with talking animals." Yang explaimed.

"Really? Excellent, I finally found more people who don't care if someone is a Faunus or not." Tali glanced at Tails. "Miles Prower, was it?" Tails nods, "He did convince a lot of people to give up on the racism, but as long as the White Fang is in existence, we might always be under suspicion."

"Can we please go already?" asked an impatient Shadow.

"Sure thing, just follow me." Tali gestures.

Tali led the group up to the entrance of the submarine. She said it was a new design, and should be more efficient in the water than the usual cigar shape.

Inside the sub, which Tali said was named the _Aquaria-1_ , was just as advanced as the rest of the _Normandy_. However, there was a major flaw that Tails noticed.

"It's only a four-seater! It doesn't look like all of us can go."

Sonic started to back away. "Well, I am gonna go ahead-" He paused his retreat as he turned around and stared into the business end of a yellow and red hammer and a specific pink Hedgehog wielding it. "-and get into the sub."

Most of the Mobians tried their hardest not to giggle at Sonic's quick re-decisioning.

"I need to go too. I am the only one of us who can work out the Emerald radar." said Tails.

"I WANNA GO, TOO!" shouted Ruby. "Oo, oo, can I? Can I? Please?"

Yang chuckled and said, "Sure, you can go. You take care of my baby sister, you hear?"

Tali gave the blonde a casual salute. "Not a problem at all. Especially since you saved my fiancé."

Yang experienced a mental record scratch. "Wait, you mean that…"

"Yes, Shep and I are going to be couple."

"Wow. Congratulations!" Team RWBY and the Mobians, besides Shadow and Omega, celebrated.

With that out of the way, Tali, Sonic, Tails, and Ruby boarded the _Aquaria-1_ and started their dive.

* * *

_A few miles away from the Normandy-_

"And you're sure you know where they are?" a bolwer hat wearing villain asks his 'partner' with doubt. As he shares half of the space of Eggman's Egg-O-Matic.

"Of course I do, you simpleton! I may be from a different world, but I'm not stupid!" the brown moustache-wearing scientist out-bursted, bolstering about his I.Q. level and achievements.

"Okay, okay, gees. So, when do we go?"

Eggman looked at Torchwick with an evil grin. Pressing a button in the process.

"NOW!"


	14. Way Down We Go

_Aquaria-1 submarine cockpit_

As the _Aquaria-1_ made its descent, Ruby stared in wide-eyed wonder at the aquatic life surrounding the sub.

"Wow… This is so cool!"

"Yep, ain't it great? No matter how many times I do this, I never get tired of this job." said Tali. She currently had the sub on autopilot and had her legs up on the console.

"Hey, about that… I have two questions on that subject." Sonic asked with fear due to his hydrophobia.

"Fire away, Hedgehog." Tali insisted.

"Okay, first question, why does the _Normandy_ have such a junky, rusted exterior?"

"Good one, bro." agreed Tails.

Tali looked back at the trio. "Well, sometimes we have to go into unsavory ports to do jobs, and having a clean exterior- well, might as well paint a bulls-eye and hang a sign screams 'STEAL ME' on the hull."

"Hmm… Never thought of it like that." pondered Ruby.

"What was your other question?"

Sonic looked at Tali in the eye. "Why did you choose this life?"

Tali adopted a sad look in her face. "I was actually working for the Atlas Military during my previous occupation. Even there, racism was abundant, and even though I was a gifted engineer, I was only ever going to get a dead-end desk job somewhere because I was a Faunus. I was so bored after a few months at it. I was approached by John Shepard a couple years ago. He asked me to join his crew because he was looking for the best, and I was it. Everyone on the _Normandy_ has a similar story. Most of us are ex-military and mercenaries who wanted to help people without strict authorities, unlike Atlas."

"And when did you caught the eye of the captain, if you don't mind me asking?" Ruby questions next in curiosity.

Tali laughed. "Oh, that's another story for another time." Suddenly Tails' device detected an energy signatures that's close by, "How's it looking Tails?"

"We are nearing the bottom. The _Chaos Emerald_ should be near here."

Tali swung her legs off the console and put on a serious face. "All right, turning the autopilot off."

The _Aquaria-1_ moved forward, with Tails' _Chaos Emerald_ radar as its guide. Tali maneuvered the sub skillfully up and down the rock formations as the radar beeping gradually increased in frequency.

"Look! That light up ahead!" shouted Ruby.

Everyone followed her finger towards what looked like an overhang about fifty feet away. In the shadow of said overhang was a cyan light.

"Yup, that looks like the _Chaos Emerald_ , all right. Does this thing have a grappling arm to reach it?" asked Tails.

"Is Sonic afraid of water?" responded Tali with a teasing wink at the Hedgehog. Sonic just rolled his eyes as she removed one of her gauntlets and inserted it in a hole in the console. Tali then activated something else and a large arm unfolded from the sub.

"Why did you have to put your gauntlet into that machine?" Ruby asked with a curious expression.

"Well, my silver-eyed companion, my weapon of choice is a claw shot. From what Tails told me earlier, _Chaos Emeralds_ wreak havoc with unshielded electronics. Fortunately," she continued while pointing at the arm which had her green gauntlet attached now, "my weapon can grab the Emerald without shorting all the equipment out on the sub, and we don't die of asphyxiation."

"Wow. That's handy." Ruby joked, Yang must be rubbing off on her.

Tali carefully manipulated the arm around the Emerald using a joystick control. She pulled a trigger on the stick, and the claw grabbed the Emerald. Precious cargo in hand, the arm retracted, and the machine extended Tali's claw shot like a ticket dispenser. She pulled it out and hit the release, dropping the Emerald into Sonic's hand.

"Well, mission accomplished! That went better than I expected." said Ruby happily.

"Just wait, Ruby. I am speaking from experience when I say that nothing is ever this easy." warned Sonic.

"Only too true." groaned Tails.

"Normandy _to_ Aquaria-1 _,_ Normandy _to_ Aquaria-1 _, come back please!_ " the radio crackled.

" _Normandy_ , this is _Aquaria-1_ , mission complete, retrieval is a success," answered Tali. "Heading back to the surface."

 _"_ Aquaria-1 _, this is Shepard. Good timing, because we have incoming airships."_

Tali frowned. "Is it the harbor patrol?"

_"Negative, Tali-_

* * *

_Normandy Bridge_

"-it's the White Fang. Repeat, the White Fang!"

_"Understood. Returning to base. Can you hold on for five minutes?"_

Shepard grinned. "Have you forgotten what this ship is capable of? See you topside, _Aquaria-1_. Over and out." Shepard put the radio back in the holder.

"SENSORS DETECT PRIORITY TARGET! EGGMAN IS NEARBY!" shouted Omega as he stormed out of the bridge.

"Eggman?!" Shadow adopted a feral grin and skated after the robot.

"Guess we better go follow them and make sure they don't kill anyone." said Blake.

They found Shadow and Omega on the starboard side of the _Normandy_ standing next to a blue container. Suddenly the ship shook violently, and everyone ended up of the floor.

"What the heck was that?!" shouted out Silver in confusion.

"LARGE MASS ATTACHED TO _NORMANDY._ " droned Omega. As if to emphasize his point, two large metal tentacles appeared from the water and slammed into the ship. They hauled up a huge robotic squid that had the Eggman symbol where the middle of its face was. A hatch opened up, and lo and behold, Eggman was behind the wheel.

"I would say it's nice to see you again, but I'd be lying." the mad doctor said.

"Same to you, Baldy McNosehair!" retorted Knuckles. Once again, everyone had a good laugh at Eggman's expense.

"Oh my gosh, Knuckie, you finally came up with a good insult!" laughed Rouge.

"Truth is, Sonic came up with that one." admitted the Echidna, remembering his time on Eggman's _interstellar amusement park_ and the events of the _Hyper-Go-On experiments._

"Speaking of the blue rat, where is he? Hiding under a table?" taunted Eggman.

"Nah, I did that already."

Eggman whipped his head around and saw Sonic standing on the _Aquaria-1_. There was something pretty interesting going on with the miniature submarine, however; it was hovering 30 feet in the air. Tails and Ruby jumped from the sub to land on the _Normandy_ next to everyone else, and Tali lowered _Aquaria-1_ back in the water.

Sonic homing attacked at one of the tentacles holding the _Egg Kraken_ onto the _Normandy_. _Cobalt Shard_ flashed, and when he stopped in front of the group, many tentacles lay twitching on the ship. However, they somehow reattached themselves to the robot, so it seemed that no damage was done.

At this point, everyone started to pelt the giant squid with their ranged weaponry, but no matter what they did, the robot just kept repairing the damage. A large tentacle whacked everyone to the ground, and Eggman started gloating at the group.

"Moo ha ha ha ha! I should really thank you! Using this material you call ' _Dust_ ' that my colleague, Mr. Roman Torchwick, gave me the healing factor of the _Egg Kraken_ is supercharged! And thanks to the power of the dark creatures, it's practically invincible!"

"Really, you had to spoil my dramatic entrance, did you?" the criminal replied from the airship that just arrived. He was flanked by two members of the White Fang, who were pointing their guns at Team RWBY and the Mobians.

Before anyone could despair, a voice rang out from a speaker:

 _"Attention, this is captain of the_ Normandy _speaking. Get the heck off my ship or I will use lethal force!"_

"Psh, you? Weapons? On this rust bucket?" Eggman scoffed in disbelief.

 _"Very well, don't say I didn't warn ya."_ Shepard said as he inserted the tip of his peg leg into a hole near his seat. When this happened, the fake containers on the ship unfolded and revealed many mounted weapons that were hidden inside. A few missile pods pointed themselves at Torchwick's ship. Roman saw what was happening and quickly got in the pilot's seat on his airship and moved it before it was blown out of the sky by a streaking missile. He then decided to make like a drum and beat it.

The captain of the _Normandy_ then pushed a button that activated several rotary guns. _"Let's see how your 'invincible' squid measures up to ten thousand rounds a minute,"_ snickered Shepard. _"Sonic, you and the others keep your heads down and cover your ears."_ He put his hand on the control stick, locked on the _Egg Kraken_ , and pulled the trigger.

The sound of a buzz saw filled the air as a rain of bullets hit the Eggman robot. Each round was an incendiary, high-impact, and armour-piercing round, and very quickly, various pieces of flaming robot started hitting the water and the ship with no chance of being recoverable. Eggman quickly ejected his Egg-O-Matic and high-tailed it out of there shortly before the _Egg Kraken_ exploded, leaving a badly singed and quite dead Beowolf on the deck of the _Normandy_.

Silver used his powers to deflect and catch bits of shrapnel that came their way, and as the smoke cleared he let the pieces fall to the ground. "Okay, Yang, I gotta ask again. How the heck did this guy owe you a favour?" he asked.

"To be honest, he was the one who insisted," she replied while shrugging. "But hey, I, for one, am not complaining."

"HELP!"

"Was that Sonic's voice?" Ruby asked. Everyone looked over the edge and they indeed saw Sonic flailing his arms in the water. Evidently, he was thrown into the water by the explosion.

"SONIC! Man overboard!" cried Amy.

Silver tried to lift him up using his powers, but he was exhausted after protecting everyone from sharp pieces of metal. Fortunately, a hatch on the deck opened up, and Tali popped up. She quickly ran to the edge and shot one of her claws at a pole in the middle of the ship. She then jumped down and shot her other claw at Sonic's hand. Tali quickly retracted the chains, leaving Sonic wet and panting on the deck, but alive. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hah, hoo, thanks, Tali." wheezed Sonic while coughing out salty water.

"You know, you really should take swimming lessons, Faker." sniggered Shadow.

Sonic just gave him a dark look. "Like your one to talk, Shads. You just hover over the water instead of swim in it." he said, recollecting events Blaze told him when Shadow and Metal Sonic appeared in her dimension shortly after the _Hedgehog Havok incident,_ and the Ultimate Life Form struggling to stay above the ocean sea after been axe-kicked by Metal.

Shadow crossed his arms and turns away with no response, know that Sonic is right.


	15. Don't you wanna be...

_Vale docks  
_ _6:00 p.m._

The _Normandy_ had just dropped the anchor at Vale's docks, and everyone got off. But before that, they had to say farewell to Captain John Shepard and his magnificent vessel.

"Thanks again for letting us use your ship, Captain," Yang said to Shepard, who had his arm around Tali's waist. "Too bad we didn't sink Torchwick or Eggman."

"Eh, he be caught sooner or later. Something tells me your team may play an important part in the months to come." he said.

"Well, whatever happens, it won't be boring, and hopefully not close to water." said Sonic with a grin.

"Yeah, I'd hate to have to rescue you again." teased Tali as she giggles.

Shepard and Sonic shook hands. "Hopefully this won't be goodbye forever. So I am just gonna say see you again soon."

"Fine by me. And Yang, I now pronounce us 'even'."

Yang shook her head while smiling. "You and your honour. We were always even. A Huntress helps people no matter what. Still, it was nice to see you again, and I am happy that you will be getting married."

A crew member popped his head out of the fake bridge of the _Normandy_. "Cap, we just received a contract. Big bucks, and it involves stealing a fortune in Dust."

"Hey, I told you that we only accept contracts where we do good things for people!"

The crew member grinned. "That's the best part. The client is apparently the heiress to the _Schnee Dust Company_ , and we are going after Torchwick!"

"WHAT?! Why didn't you say so?! Get ready to cast off ye lads and lass'!" Shepard ordered. He and Tali both ran up the ramp to the ship, but before he entered, he looked back at the group and gave a casual salute. Soon after that, the _Normandy_ pulled out and exited dramatically into the sunset.

"You do know that they do extensive background checks, right?" asked Rouge with curiosity of why the heiress contracted them.

Weiss just grinned. "I know. But it'll be funny when they find out I sent them a nice contract. Plus, I get some of my Dust back. So everyone wins."

"Except Torchwick, obviously." the white Bat reminded.

"I don't know about you guys, but does anyone else want to get something to eat?" asked Knuckles.

Sonic and Ruby smirked at each other. "We might know just the place."

* * *

_Yarrgarita's: The Corpirate  
_ _6:30 p.m._

"Hey, you're back!" The Corpirate was thrilled to see Team RWBY and the Mobians again. "How have you all been?"

"Oh, pretty good. We saw the sights, destroyed a few robots, acquired new weapons, and stopped a robbery by Torchwick."

The Corpirate looked at Sonic, impressed. "Really? You stopped Torchwick? And it's only a Tuesday."

"Nice place you got here," commented Rouge, looking at the dance floor. "Now this is my kind of place."

"Thank you. So ye must be the other Mobians, right?"

"AFFIRMATIVE," said E-123 Omega. "EXCEPTION: I AM NOT A FLESH CREATURE."

"Come on, Omega, be nice." Rouge requested from the walking arsenal, and he does so reluctantly.

The Corpirate led everyone to the VIP section of the club. They all sat down at a large table and chatted for a bit about their past adventures.

"So Amy, you have a team of your own?" asked Blake. The Mobians were telling Team RWBY about _Neo_ Metal Sonic, an upgraded version of the original Metal Sonic, and his scheme of replacing Eggman.

They talked for what felt like hours, telling stories of their time with a group named 'the _Freedom Fighters_ ' lead by Princess Sally Acorn, to fighting god-like beings such as _Chaos_ , a mutated Chao that wiped out the Knuckles Clan many years ago. _Bedlam the Hedgehog_ , the Moderator of the Chaos Emeralds. _Blackdoom_ , an alien returning to Mobius for the Chaos Emeralds. _Nazo the Hedgehog,_ a being born from negative Chaos Energy. _Solaris the Eternal Sun-God of Time_ , capable of destroying entire dimensions and timelines like there nothing. _Dark Gaia,_ the physical manifestation of Darkness. _Umbra the Hedgehog,_ a failed clone of G.U.N. to replicate Shadow the Hedgehog. _Enerjak,_ a Chaos Force Demi-God that can possess others to exist every one thousand years. _Scourge the Hedgehog_ , an alternate universe version of an evil Sonic. And finally, the _Time Eater,_ a creature that can alter and erase various points of time and space with minimal effort.

Of course the member of Team RWBY were amazed by the Mobians battles and threats they face, it almost made their achievements feel small compared to dealing with a water-demon from a giant gemstone. They moved on to how the heroic group was about to face against Robotnik once again before arriving on Remnant.

"Yep, the other two members couldn't make it to the _Egg Ark_ , so you can't really meet them. There's Cream the Rabbit, and Big the Cat." Amy said as she recollects on the time during the _Metal Overlord crisis._

"What can you tell us about them?" Ruby asks directly.

"Well, Cream is probably the youngest in our little group of heroes. She's even younger than Tails, but she can still fight like the best of us. She takes care of a Chao named Cheese." Amy pulled out a picture of a young rabbit holding a small blue creature with a red bow tie.

"That's a Chao? Oh, they're so cute!" Ruby gushed in cuteness, even the other members cooed in cuteness.

"What about this Big character?" asked Weiss.

Amy pulled out another picture. This one had a large purple cat with a fishing rod holding a frog in his hand. "This is Big, and his best friend, Froggy. He's the greatest, even if he is dumber than Knuckles. _("Hey!" Knuckles shouted out)_ But Big was a lot of help during the whole ordeal with Neo Metal Sonic."

"There was another team that helped out during that crisis. _Team Chaotix_ , also known as the _Chaotix Detective Agency._ " Shadow remembered.

"What are their members?" asked Yang.

"There's _Vector the Crocodile_ , the leader. He's surprisingly strong, and has the ability to breathe fire for some reason. _Espio the Chameleon_ is a ninja who can turn invisible on a moment's notice, somewhat similar to Blake. _Charmy Bee_ is the youngest. He's hyperactive and younger than Tails, but slightly older than Cream." explained Sonic, "There's also _Mighty the Armadilo_ and _Ray the Flying Squirrel,_ but last I heard from them their travelling around looking for Mighty's sister."

"Are they any good at being detectives?" asked Silver. He and Blaze only knew them from sight, during the event with the _Time Eater._

"Well, let's just say I feel sorry for Espio sometimes. Vector and Charmy can get pretty annoying." the blue blur admitted with sympathy.

"Are there any other teams you have met over the years?" asked Ruby with interest.

"There are other teams we have encountered, one of them were called the _Babylon Rogues,"_ began Tails. "They are quite good at treasure hunting-"

"Not as good as me or Knuckles though." interjected Rouge. Tails gave her a look and continued.

"-and experts on riding hover-boards called _Extreme Gear's._ "

"Considering they were related to genies, I don't think it was that difficult." said Amy.

"I thought they were descendants of aliens." said Knuckles.

"Genies? Aliens?" asked Weiss incredulously. "And they look like normal animals, right?"

"Yup. There's _Jet the Hawk_ being their leader _, Wave the Swallow_ as the engineer and technician, and _Storm the Albatross_ for the muscle." Sonic leaned back on his chair. "Their ancestors came to Mobius from a starship-like city called _Babylon Garden_. I'll be honest, I still don't know the entire story with them."

"I don't think even they know," pondered Tails. "All we know for sure is that they first made Extreme Gear in the form of flying carpets, and the way they arrived on Mobius was by these devices called the _Arks of the Cosmos_ , which can manipulate gravity."

"Wow, that's pretty wild." Ruby whistled. But something was bugging her about the Chaos Emeralds and what they can do. "Hey Sonic, I've been meaning to ask, what can these gems do anyway?"

Instead of the Fastest Thing Alive answering, Knuckles responded instead, "The Chaos Emeralds are natural creation of the universe, at least in theory. Eight of them landed on our planet with one of them, the _Master Emerald,_ crashed on an island full of the Echidna race and sent it floating into the air. As for the other seven, they all landed somewhere on some islands, _South Island_ and _Westside Island_ to be precise."

"As for what they can do," Shadow taking o er this time, "the Emeralds are an unlimited source of destructive power, you saw how devastating my _Chaos Blast_ was against those Spider-Droids, and I was holding back." the black Hedgehog admitted and everyone agreed with his statement, "Also, the Chaos Emeralds can transform thoughts into power, with all seven you can invincible, becoming 'Super'."

"But they can even ascend even further than that," Sonic now interrupting, "they grow more in something what I dubbed, the ' _Super Emeralds_ ', and when attained I've achieved a form called 'Hyper'." Yang asks how many 'forms' that each of them reached. They named each state off the top of their heads, such as the _Super State, Hyper State, Chaos Form, Hyper-Mode Form, Turbo Form, Ultra State,_ and _Dark State._

Sonic admitted he's had several forms even outside of using Chaos Energy, such as _Darkspine,_ the _Excalibur armour,_ and a _Werehog_ transformation, which he still has even after the _Dark Gaia crisis_ but only during a full moon. Shadow has only _Super, Hyper,_ and _Chaos._ Silver can only reach _Super_ at the moment. Knuckles and Tails admit they have _Super, Hyper,_ and _Hyper-Mode's_ but the Fox has reach the _Turbo_ while Knuckles unlocked the _Chaos State_. Even Blaze confess' that she has her own 'Super' state she calls ' _Burning Form'_ through the her own version of Chaos Emeralds, the _Sol Emeralds._

Team RWBY now felt really small after hearing what the Chaos Emeralds can do, Super forms? Warping time and space? Fighting god-level beings? How are they going to compare those feats to 'preventing a Dust heist'. But then they realised that Sonic started out like where they are now, with time, training, and experience they could even reach to where are at some point or another.

At last, their dinners arrived. Sonic had finished his second chili dog when the Corpirate arrived again. "Excuse me, but since you have gotten here, everyone has wanted Sonic to sing again. Should I tell them to mind their own business?"

"Really? Strange request. I'll do it. I got an idea for a song that might work out nicely. Knux, Silver, Shadow, you in?"

"Aw, heck, why not?" Knuckles agree.

"Count me in!" Silver admitted.

"There is no way that I'm going up on that stage, with someone like you Faker." Shadow disagreed.

Sonic put his head in his hand in mock despair. "Oh, Shads, you really need to loosen up. Besides, I got a really good position for you: Second Guitarist."

"Come on, Shadow, you really need to be more social," Rouge encouraged. "You're immortal, take advantage of it!"

"Shadow's immortal?" whispered Yang to Knuckles. "What's up with that?"

"We'll tell you about it some other time."

Shadow groaned in defeat. "Fine, but I'll only sing one time, and one time only. Understand?"

Sonic shrugged. "Fair enough. Let's go!"

The Mobians left for the stage, and the others followed not wanting to miss this. Sonic and Shadow took electric guitars, while Silver decided on the bass. Meanwhile, Knuckles called dibs on the drum kit. And each of them had a microphone of their own.

"Just out of curiosity, are they gonna play a song every time they come here?" asked Blake.

"Probably. I just hope I get to sing next time." whined Weiss.

Sonic counted the impromptu band off, and song began with him playing his guitar to a nice rhythm. Knuckles joined him soon afterwards, and then the song began to really kick off.

_Superhero - Simon Curtis_

**SONIC: Stand up, everybody look alive  
** **Say come on, come on, come on we're gonna get it now  
** **Hands up if you're ready for a fight  
** **Say come on, come on, come on we're gonna win it now**

**KNUCKLES: I don't need you to believe in me**  
**I know how to change my destiny**  
**Sit down but to rewrite our history, rewrite our history, rewrite our history**

**SILVER: We can change the whole world, gonna take it over**  
**Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be**  
**A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning**  
**Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be**

**ALL: A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Don't you wanna be**  
**A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Anybody could be**  
**Anybody could be**  
**Anybody could be**

**SILVER: Rip it off, show the symbol on your chest**  
**Say come on and show the world who you really are**  
**It's not enough to be better than the rest**  
**Gotta take it to the top and make yourself a superstar**

**KNUCKLES: You don't need them to believe in you**  
**Get your mission on lock and see it through**  
**You've got all the power you need in you**  
**Power you need in you, power you need in you**

**SONIC: We can change the whole world, gonna take it over**  
**Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be**  
**A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning**  
**Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be**

**ALL: A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Don't you wanna be**  
**A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Anybody could be**

**SILVER: We can change the whole world, gonna take it over**  
**Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be**  
**A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning**  
**Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be**

**KNUCKLES: A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Don't you wanna be**  
**A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Anybody could be**

**ALL: We can change the whole world, gonna take it over**  
**Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be**  
**A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning**  
**Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be**

**SHADOW: A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Don't you wanna be**  
**A superhero, a superhero, a superhero**  
**Anybody could be**  
**A hero**

Everyone cheered for the performance of Mobians as the song ended.

"Wow Shadow, I really didn't expect that great solo at the end from you," said Sonic as the Hedgehogs and Echidna put away the guitars. "What gives?"

Shadow lowered his head. "I was just thinking that if Maria could see me, she would want me to be happy. I don't think she would like to me by myself while all my friends have the time of their lives."

Sonic smiled and placed a reassuring hand on the black Hedgehog's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure she would be proud of how far you've come."

"Just don't spread it around. I've got a reputation to maintain."

"Ah, there's the Shadow we know." Knuckles chuckles.

As everyone else gathered around, Shadow pulled out his green Chaos Emerald. "Well, see you guys back at the Academy. Omega and I are gonna report our success to Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch."

"Great! We'll see you there." said Blake.

"Chaos… CONTROL!" With that, Shadow and Omega vanished in a green flash. Leaving the members of RWBY in surprise of the Ultimate Life Form's teleportation ability in action.

As the rest of the gang walked back to the academy, Ruby wondered what was happening between Eggman and Torchwick right now.

* * *

_Vale Docks  
_ _10:30 p.m._

"You mean to tell me you were beaten by a RUSTY SHIP?!"

Cinder was literally burning with rage as she received the report from Dr. Eggman and Torchwick's recent failure on the assault on the _Normandy_.

"Now boss, I allowed Eggman here to plan the assault. I wanted to gather more intelligence, but-"

"Oh, can it, thief," Eggman interrupted. "I was all the intelligence you needed!"

"ENOUGH!" Cinder shouted as she let a shockwave of fire radiating from her body. It didn't burn anybody or anything, but it did get their attention. "By Oum, I was expecting great things from you, Ivo, but it seems you're worse than Roman! At least he gets results!"

Torchwick tried not to grin, but failed miserably.

"How many times have you actually beaten those animals?!"

"A few times..." Eggman answered, "I even humiliated and devastated Sonic in combat once." remembering how he smacked the blue blur around in his battle suit after destroying Knothole.

"The doctor has never truly succeeded in beating Sonic or his friends." Orbot answered.

"Dern right! There was even one occasion where-" Cubot began, but before he could continue, Eggman slapped him to basically shut up.

"Fear not, I have a plan that will beat them for sure!" Eggman announced. Cinder cooled down a little _(literally and figuratively)_ and sat down, making a note to herself to get Torchwick to steal some aspirin during his next heist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, that one was taking longer than I thought, adding in the capabilities and forms the Chaos Emeralds provide and the doubts that Team RWBY share.
> 
> Some of the forms may appear such as Super, Chaos, Dark, and Hyper-Mode. While the other forms like Hyper, Ultra and Turbo may or may not appear but time will only tell. Darkspine, Excalibur and Werehog won't appear unfortunately.
> 
> Yes, I know, the fact that I've included already existing fan-made characters into the story is unoriginal, but I thought it would expand the series a bit for history.
> 
> For those who don't know who Nazo, Bedlam, and Umbra are...  
> ·Nazo is an evil Hedgehog born from built-up negative Chaos Energy. Originally created from Chakra-X for Sonic: Nazo Unleashed.  
> ·Bedlam is the 'Moderator of the Chaos Emeralds' who appears when the Chaos Emeralds are overused and abused for several years. Made for Pipulpfan77's series Sonic Stop Motion Adventures' series finale.  
> ·Umbra is the clone of Shadow the Hedgehog created by G.U.N. to be mass produced. Owned by LifelineTheHedgehog for his series Speed Stories.
> 
> Bedlam and Nazo could maybe appear later on down the line to add an extra hero/villain in since Dr. Eggman and Torchwick can get very predictable and boring after so long. Characters such as Umbra, Enerjak or Scourge will not be in this series.


	16. The Scheme

_Beacon Academy  
Doctor_ _Oobleck's classroom  
_ _3:30 p.m._

It was Friday, and most of the students were looking forward to a temporary end of classes. For Pyrrha Nikos, however, this meant another weekend where she might not hang out with a certain blonde boy. She sighed to herself as she stared at Jaune Arc, who was completely oblivious to her affections.

"Mr Winchester, I thought I told you to stop pestering Miss Scarlatine!" Dr. Oobleck was once again displeased at the sight of Cardin Winchester, leader of Team CRDL, completely disregarding his lesson and was instead shooting spitballs at Velvet. Once again.

"What? It's not like she's a real human, right?" said Cardin carelessly.

Suddenly, the Beacon bully jumped up trying to put out a fire that somehow appeared in his pants- specifically between his legs. Everyone wanted to laugh, but finding out who did it in the first place took priority.

"Oops." The caffeinated teacher looked down and saw Blaze the Cat with a smug grin on her face and a small flame on the tip of her fingers.

"Ah, hello Miss Blaze! I take it you were the one who set Mr. Winchester on fire?"

"Who, me? That was actually a misfire, pun intended. I was aiming for his head."

"Technically, you did get his head." Blake said with a serious expression.

Everyone except Cardin laughed, and even shy Velvet chuckled a little. The unfortunate bully, showing an astounding level of restraint, wisely decided not to anger the pyrokinetic Cat princess.

"Miss Blaze, what is the history of your world?" asked Oobleck. "I am very curious about your story, in particular. You carry yourself like royalty, and yet don't mind getting your hands- or rather, gloves, dirty."

Blaze looked at him, then the class. "I was born into royalty from another dimension that is in misbalance. The seas cover most of my world with every little colonies of islands, and my worlds gemstones, the seven _Sol Emeralds,_ are the only things that are maintaining what's left of balance to survive longer."

"However, as their guardian they somehow transported by to Sonic's world, Mobius, it was difficult to makes friends with others but he helped me threw it. When I returned back to my dimension, I trained to return back to Mobius by any means necessary. It worked, but I ended up in Mobius' future, and it was literally hell. Buildings destroyed, lava rivers running everywhere, and flaming tornados rising from nothing. I was there for a week until I met Silver the Hedgehog and the creature who caused such disaster, _Iblis the Flame._ "

"So you and Silver…." Oobleck somewhat questions.

"Yes, he is from the future, while I am from another universe, so to speak." Blaze confirms.

Everyone except Jaune, Blake, and Pyrrha looked at Blaze with wonder. Velvet quietly asked, "Did you prevent this 'Iblis' from being born?"

"Well, we found a way to destroy Iblis in our own time, which was to seal his flames within my body, and send myself back to my dimension. I returned to my princess status, and Silver helped rebuild Mobius. Of course, in my dimension, I have to deal with a rotten egg of my own, but that's another story for another time."

"But aren't you worried that Iblis might be released into the world again?" asked Jaune with concern over the end of Remnant by eternal fire.

"Fortunately for me, Tails found a way to extract the _Flames of Disaster_ without causing me any harm. He, along with Eggman's help, jettisoned the capsule containing the Flames into a pocket dimension where nobody will try to get it."

"Wait, Eggman actually helped you?" asked Pyrrha incredulously.

"Surprising as it maybe, there are occasions where the mad doctor actually helps us. This was one of them. Eggman knew this was one powerful creature he could not control."

"Why was Iblis different from any other creature that Eggman controlled over the years?" asked Oobleck.

"Well, Iblis was just one half of a time god named _Solaris the Sun-God_. The Egghead couldn't even keep the other half for a day." said Blaze shuddering at the memory of _Mephiles the Dark,_ and sincerely hoping he isn't lurking in the shadows like before.

"This is most fascinating! So time travel in your world is possible, and parallel dimensions do exist!" shouted the doctor. He checked the time and saw that he had less than a minute left.

"Now before class is released, do you have any advice for these budding Huntsmen and Huntress', Miss Blaze?"

Blaze looked at the class. "No matter what happens out there, remember that the Creatures of Grimm aren't the only monsters that exist in this or any world. Most monsters are people that do terrible things for their own satisfaction with no regard for life, no matter what form they take. The Creatures of Grimm are indeed monsters of terrible power, but remember that each of us has the potential to be monsters. You must choose the right path, or you will lose everything you love, forever."

Blaze noticed that Cardin was once again not paying attention, so she set his shoes on fire. The results were very comedic as he left the room fast enough to make Sonic jealous, who was walking in the halls.

"Can someone please tell Mr. Winchester that he owes me a five page essay on the formation of the White Fang?" said a chuckling Oobleck as one of the bully's teammates agreed. "Class is dismissed." The doctor ran out the door in a blur.

Pyrrha and Jaune walked back to their dorms together, talking about the fire Cat's personal history. "Blaze's story was pretty interesting. To think that she and Silver are beings from either the future or another reality, so different from Sonic's and the others." the amazon said with excitement and wonder.

Jaune grinned. "Personally, I liked it when she lit Cardin on fire. Twice!"

"Hey, Jaune!"

The two turned around to see Silver and Blaze. "Oh, hey Pyrrha." greeted Silver.

"Hello Silver. Hello again, Blaze!" Pyrrha said cheerfully.

"What's up, Silver?" Jaune asked.

"Well, I thinking that we could hang out with you guys this weekend. We've been doing things with Team RWBY, but not a lot with your team."

"Sounds good. You got a place?"

"Yup, it's a dance bar called 'Yarrgaritas'. You heard of it?"

"Oh, yeah, I've heard about it. We'll definitely be going, right Jaune?" Pyrrha suddenly turned to Team JNPR's leader with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Oh, ah, hm," Jaune stammered. "R-right."

"Great! You and Jaune go ahead and tell Ren and Nora. I wanna talk a bit with Pyrrha," Blaze requested.

"Sure. Come on, Jaune," said Silver as he dragged the stammering blonde.

"So, what's up, Blaze?"

"Well, when I was in the classroom, I noticed that the professor did not question my methods of dealing with that idiot, what's-his-name, Cardin?"

"Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL," confirmed Pyrrha. "He has gained a reputation of being a bully to many people. You recall seeing the Faunus with the rabbit ears?"

"Yes, I did. Poor girl…"

"Well, he was doing that to Jaune for a while. Then he told me that he faked his transcript to get into Beacon, and Cardin overheard. He used that fact as blackmail to get Jaune to do whatever he asked. Fortunately for Jaune, he regained his freedom after first refusing to hit me with a jar of sap, then saving Cardin from the biggest Ursa in the Forest of Forever Fall."

"Really?" Blaze asked, intrigued. "So even after Winchester told him to throw sap at you, and most likely beating Jaune up for not doing it-"

"Jaune still saved him. He has the makings of a true hunter, in my opinion." Pyrrha looked away, smiling. "He may have faked his entry, but his aura is very powerful. I have only seen more of it in Headmistress Goodwitch, and that was probably only after many years of training."

Blaze looked at the amazon. "He reminds me of Silver. He can be naïve, but his heart is always in the right place."

Pyrrha sighed dreamily. "After the trip, I took it upon myself to train Jaune to be a better Huntsman. We have been practicing every Tuesday and Thursday, and he has improved his skills greatly."

The pyrokinetic cat adopted a mischievous look on her face. "I take it you also had an ulterior motive?"

Pyrrha's cheeks turned as red as her hair. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I think you like him more than a friend," said Blaze with a knowing look in her eye. "I saw the way you look at him in class."

Pyrrha sighed. "Yes, I do like Jaune a lot. Ever since I first saw him, really."

"So what's stopped you from telling him?"

"He may be my crush, but he is my leader as well. I don't want to be seen as someone who is a kiss-up. If anything, I am waiting for him to make the first move."

"Well, don't wait too long, or he might not be available," advised Blaze.

"Hopefully something might happen this weekend if Nora doesn't interrupt."

_Meanwhile, in Team JNPR's room-_

"So, Ren, do you think you can handle it?"

Rouge looked at the pink-eyed boy expectantly.

"Sure, Nora and I can make ourselves scarce when the time is right."

"Sorry we have to interrupt your plans, handsome."

"Hey, no problem," said Ren, chuckling a little. "I think it's finally time that our leader should get a girlfriend."

"Great! Remember, you never saw me. Later!" Rouge called as she flew out the window.

Operation: _Warrior's Love_ was under way.

* * *

_Egg Ark  
_ _Midnight_

Deep in Eggman's base, something stirred in a dark corner. A small bundle of parts sat forgotten by its creator. Wires suddenly started to snake from the parts into the walls, siphoning energy from the base.

The parts slowly reassembled themselves to form a robot about three feet tall, but the shadows hid his form. Red eyes lit up, and the owner of them gained awareness once again.

The figure uploaded his database with his current location and activated his memory circuits. As he played back the last ten minutes before his shutdown, anger started to build. He picked up a piece of junk and crushed it into metal fragments.

The robot started to speak, his voice filled with hatred. _"Btzz~ Soon… I shall have revenge against you, Sonic… ~Btzz"_

The robot stepped into the light, revealing a metallic blue hedgehog.

_"Btzz~ My loathsome copy ~Btzz."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok yes, I altered Blaze's history from the original but that doesn't change much, on even Silver and Blazer's potential relationship.


	17. News from Mobius

_Beacon Workshop  
_ _8:30 a.m._

"Tails, are you doing alright?" the cat Faunus asks with concern.

"I'm fine, Blake." the Fox replied as he rubbed his eyes. He had been up all night trying to get a location for the next _Chaos Emerald_ without success.

"You're working too hard," Blake said with concern. "You've hardly been out of the workshop. You need to relax."

Tails looked at the Faunus with tired eyes. "I know. I want to find Eggman's base because I think a _Chaos Emerald_ might be in there. On the plus side, I am almost finished with building a new plane."

Blake looked at him with surprise. "Already? How?"

"Fortunately, I keep back-up files of various blueprints in my tablet, the _Tornado_ being one of them. All it needs is some paint and a little help from you. If you don't mind, that is."

Blake laughed. "I think I can help you with that. I mean you could use the extra help." she offers.

The two walked out of the workshop, only to run into Knuckles. The Echidna was very excited about something. "Guys, I have some great news! Get everyone here, pronto!"

Soon, everyone was gathered around the Echidna. "What's up, Knux?" asked Sonic.

"Well, you know that I've been trying to communicate with the _Master Emerald_ for a few days now, right?"

"What's a _Master Emerald_?" asked Ruby.

"The _Master Emerald_ is a large gem that is the controller of the _Chaos Emeralds_. It usually sits on _Angel Island_ , which floats in the sky due to the power of the _Master Emerald._ At least when it's not stolen by Eggman or Rouge." said Tails while remind the youngest Huntress of the powerful gemstone.

"Hey, that was only once, and it really wasn't the whole Emerald, just pieces of it." defended the white bat.

"Anyway, last night, I was finally able to get in touch with Tikal, the Echidna spirit who lives inside the _Master Emerald_. She in turn was able to contact our friends back on Mobius. They know that we are okay!"

Amy breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, I was getting worried that no one at home knew of our situation. Is everyone all right?"

Knuckles grinned with confirmation that everyone is fine and healthy since their disappearance. "Shade, Julie-Su and the _Chaotix_ are guardian the _Master Emerald_ ; the _Babylon Rogues_ are bounty hunting for the police and even G.U.N., for the right price; the _Radniks_ and _Xalvandor_ agreed to target any of Eggman's bases and facilities; princess _Sally Acorn_ and the _Freedom Fighters_ are hoping for our return; and finally the _Rabbit Family_ are protected by _Gemerl_ if someone like the _Hooligan's_ planning to kidnap them." He almost forgot someone else, "Oh yeah, _Flames_ and _Ice_ are currently in _Spagonia,_ aiding that nut _Professor Pickle_ with his research of _Dark_ and _Light Gaia."_

Everyone was relieved that their friends, family members and allies are safe. Amy and Blaze were glad that Cream the Rabbit wasn't transported with them due to her young and innocent nature not handling the Grimm or Torchwick; Knuckles smiled inside since Shape and Julie-Su the Echidna's are protecting one of their history's priced treasures, the _Master Emerald_ ; Omega appreciated the support of other former-Badniks like Xalvandor and the _Radnik's_ turning on Robotnik and his territories; Sonic and Tails were happy that Jet the Hawk is now helping others instead of pursuing lost riches.

"Did Tikal say anything about us returning back to Mobius?" Shadow questions with concern.

"She said that since we arrived here by a huge energy release of Chaos Energy via _Chaos Control,_ we'll need all seven _Chaos Emeralds_ and transform them into _Super Emeralds,_ the amount of power should be more than enough to return us back home."

"Well, we already have three of them, so were half way done." Silver states enthusiastically, unknowingly jinxing their changes of future success'.

* * *

_Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _9:30 a.m._

The fact that the Forest of Forever Fall had red leaves all the time is a known fact. It is also a known fact that the Creatures of Grimm are attracted to the sweet sap generated by the trees.

However, as Neo Metal Sonic ran away from Eggman's base of operations, he gleaned a new fact:

Surviving in this hostile world was going to be easy for a being like him.

 _"Btzz~ Hm hm hm… What is this? I sense the presence of Chaos Emerald,"_ he thought to himself. _"That idiot creator of mine had one near his base and hasn't even picked it up! ~Btzz"_

Metal Sonic once again recalled his humiliating defeat at the hands of Sonic as he raced towards the signal. _"Btzz~ First I'll deal with my meddlesome copy, then I'll destroy Eggman! ~Btzz"_

Metal stopped at a clearing on a hill. His scanners indicated that the Emerald was close. _"Btzz~ But where is it?! ~Btzz"_ he screamed in frustration. His frustration was interrupted by a warning from his sensors.

_**UNKNOWN LIFE FORM DETECTED** _

Metal Sonic looked down and saw a large serpent slithering towards him. "Btzz~ _Hm… It's not Sonic or Eggman, but it will do for now. ~Btzz"_

The _King Taijitu_ started to curl around the robotic hedgehog, fangs on both of its heads gleaming. As the black head struck, Neo Metal Sonic jumped up and jabbed his hand into its skull, killing it. The white head, enraged by the loss of its dark half, quickly thrust itself and enclosed the metal hedgehog in its mouth. There was a bright light, and then the head of the giant snake vanished in a shower of fine black mist. Neo Metal was undamaged, and he spotted a white glow in the ground.

Unconcerned by the fact that he had just destroyed one of the largest Creatures of Grimm in the forest with little effort, Neo Metal Sonic plucked the white _Chaos Emerald_ from the ground. His face showed no emotions, but somehow he managed to have a sinister look as he felt the power of the Chaos Emerald flowing through him.

 _"Btzz~ So… the_ Chaos Emeralds _landed in this planet as well… ~Btzz"_ Metal thought to himself. _"Btzz~ The good doctor probably miscalculated a_ Chaos Control _… No matter. It should be very simple to get the others, even if Sonic and Eggman have acquired them. No one, not even these dark creatures, will be able to interfere with my plans! ~Btzz"_ Neo Metal Sonic began to laugh out with pure malice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know or forgot these characters, here's a refresher:  
> ·Shade the Echidna - An ancient Echidna of the Nocturnus Clan who was trapped in the Twilight Cage.  
> Made by SEGA for the game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
> 
> ·Julie-Su the Echidna - A part-timer Chaotix member and Knuckles' girlfriend.  
> Made from Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog line.
> 
> ·The Radniks - A group of former Badniks that rebelled against Eggman. Consists of R-1000 "Dash", R-2000 "Jack", R-3000 "Clanker", R-4000 "Gyro", and R-5000 "Jorgan".  
> These are OC's made by Youtuber PiplupFan77 for his series: Sonic Stop Motion Adventures.
> 
> ·Xalvandor - The first robot of Eggman's newest Knightmare-Series line but turned traitor after losing to its successor, Xirato.  
> This character is another OC created by Youtuber PiplupFan77 for his series: Sonic Stop Motion Adventures.
> 
> ·Gemerl - This character is a Gizoid created by Dr. Eggman from Emerl's data, however he betrayed Eggman and was reprogrammed by Tails to defend Cream and Vanilla the Rabbits.  
> Made by SEGA for Sonic Advance 3.
> 
> ·Flames and Ice - Both are Mobian Hedgehogs with each of their own abilities, Pyrokinesis for Flames and Cyrokinesis for Ice.  
> Both are personal OC's of mine.
> 
> Oh yeah almost forgot, I decided to use Neo Metal Sonic instead of plain Metal Sonic to make him more of a threat, plus his Neo form is the only form that he can talk.


	18. Operation: Warrior's Romance

_Beacon Academy  
_ _6:00 p.m._

_'Oh man, I'm gonna be sitting close to my biggest crush, and we will be surrounded by other people! Why did I say yes to hanging out with them?'_

Jaune Arc's head was filled with thoughts like that for most of the day. He was very anxious about being close to Pyrrha, and he was very tense all day. In fact, he could barely get into his formal suit, he was shaking so badly.

"Jaune? Are you ready?"

 _*Gulp*_ "Almost, Pyrrha. Oh, why did the club have to require formal wear today?!"

A few minutes later, Jaune walked out of the dorm bathroom wearing a very nice tuxedo, a black suit and trousers with a white shirt underneath and yellow tie. "Alright, go ahead and laugh."

Nora, who was wearing a pink dress while bouncing on the bed, just smiled and said, "Jaune, you worry too much. You look very handsome!"

Jaune looked up. "Y-you really think so?"

"I agree with Nora. It isn't a too bad of a look for you," said Ren. He was wearing a tuxedo with a very similar colour scheme to his casual outfit- green shirt with white pants.

"So, what do you think?" asked Pyrrha, who just walked in.

Jaune turned to look, and found that he couldn't speak. Pyrrha was wearing a long, flowing red dress that matched her hair. The dress clung to her curves nicely, and it went well with the jewels in her hair. All in all, she was drop dead gorgeous, and Jaune's brain was trying very hard to not have a nosebleed at the sight of her.

Jaune , somewhat literally, picked his jaw up from the floor and cleared his throat. "You look… good, I guess."

Nora slowly walked up to him with a mischievous smile. " _Just_ good? Is that what you really think, Jaune?" Nora said as she batted her eyes playfully, while Pyrrha blushed.

"Okay, Nora, I think you've teased him enough. You look great." Ren was starting to see signs that Jaune was going to faint from Pyrrha's appearance, and he decided to come to his rescue.

"Thanks, Ren. Well, they're meeting us at the club, so let's go."

"YAY! I call the window seat!" exclaimed Nora as she ran from the room.

 _*sigh*_ "Thank you for saving me from Pyrrha. As much as I like to say otherwise, I really don't like it when girls pay direct attention to me." JNPR's leader whispered to Ren.

"No problem, but before we go, I feel like I should tell you something." The team's ninja whispered back.

"Alright, shoot."

Ren paused before he began. "As the leader of Team JNPR, I think that you should know that Pyrrha likes you."

Jaune tried to shake that revelation off. "So? I like her too. I think she is a great friend. So are you and Nora, although I still get panic attacks when Nora gets close to a cup of coffee."

"I mean she likes you a lot. I don't think she would mind being more than 'just friends'."

The leader of Team JNPR was shocked to the core. "Y-you mean that she is attracted to me?"

Now it was Ren's turn to be shocked. "Seriously!? How could you have missed the lovey-dovey eyes she gives you whenever we are all together?"

"B-but she and I can't be together…"

"Why not?" asked Ren with an amused look on his face. "You clearly like her."

"I just can't let my feelings interfere with the team dynamics. I might give her duties less dangerous, and people might say I am showing favouritism because we are a couple!"

Ren looked at Jaune with a serious expression. "Listen to me, Jaune. As your teammate, let me give you some advice: Don't give up that easily. I see the beginnings of something wonderful, and you're going to give that up?"

"Uh…"

"Pyrrha Nikos is a strong willed and independent woman, but she needs you. I have a feeling that you need her, too. Sonic told me about his adventure with Captain Shepard, and he is engaged to one of his crew."

"R-really?"

"I don't know if Shepard had those same doubts you do, but if he did, it's clear that he overcame them, and he is in a great relationship with that Tali girl. The rest of the crew doesn't have a problem with his relationship. Nora and I will be okay with you and Pyrrha as a couple."

Ren got up to leave. "Whatever your decision, make it soon. I heard she might just give up on you and move on to someone else."

Jaune sat on his bed, emotions churning inside him. It wasn't until Nora dragged him away to the airship that he moved.

Outside, Rouge was watching Team JNPR leaving through a pair of binoculars. She saw Ren making a casual thumbs up out of sight of the others as they entered the airship, and she smiled.

Phase 1 was a success. However, Phase 2 called for something a little more subtle.

Inside the airship, Jaune had more discomfort awaiting him, as he ended up sitting next to Pyrrha. He was still reeling from Ren's revelation that she liked him a lot, maybe even loved him. He was still not sure about being in a relationship with a member of his team.

_**MESSAGE RECEIVED** _

Jaune got his scroll out of his pocket when he heard the message chime go off. He saw that the subject line said _'Read in Private',_ and that the sender was Weiss.

 _'Huh, I wonder what the Snow Angel wants.'_ Jaune thought as he walked to the bathroom as if he needed to throw up. Thankfully, no one knew that he had taken ginger pills, so his airsickness was under control. No one would disturb him.

_Weiss: "Jaune, I just found something interesting in Pyrrha's diary. Here's what it says:_

**_"Dear Diary, I really do hope that Jaune tells me that he likes me tonight. I have a feeling that he might still have doubts about whether or not he should even be at Beacon, let alone showing favouritism to me. I keep sensing something during our training sessions, but I feel like he should make the first move. It's been a few months since we first met, but I still get butterflies every time we are close to each other. His confidence has increased dramatically since then, and maybe tonight's the night that we can finally be together! He no longer believes that he doesn't belong to Beacon, and even Cardin isn't being a big bully to him, although, I will still break his legs if he tries anything funny._ (Insert sigh of affection) _I think I can finally admit to myself that I love Jaune, ever since he called me 'Hot Stuff' before the initiation."_ **

_"So, Jaune, are you gonna throw away this catch, or are you going to get a girlfriend? After all, sometimes you have to take a chance to get what you want. We only have one life."_

_Sonic: "YOLO!"_

_Weiss: "Sonic?! How long have you been watching this?!"_

_Sonic: "Long enough. So why are you reading Pyrrha's diary?"_

_Weiss: "Alright, I'll tell you, but don't mention it to her."_ She then explains to the blue blur why she's helping Jaune Arc together with Pyrrha Nikos.

_Sonic: "Ah, a little matchmaking, huh? Go for it, Jaune! Live and learn from life!"_

_Weiss: "You say that, and yet why are you always running from Amy? You two would make a nice couple."_

_Sonic: "You kidding? She can be pretty crazy at times. Especially with her hammer."_

_Amy: "SONIC! Why do you keep running away from me?!"_

_Sonic: "Uh oh, she found me! Gotta go, bye!"_

Jaune put his scroll away with a determined expression on his face. The amusing antics of the hedgehogs notwithstanding, he had made his decision, and nothing would stop him from confessing his love to Pyrrha tonight.

**BAM!**

Okay, maybe at least one thing.

_'Who put that door there?!'_

* * *

_Yarrgarita's  
_ _7:00 p.m._

"So when Eggman installed new spyware in his base, Tails manipulated the software so he had to go through many menus to get to the right camera angle, and even then, more menus got in the way of the screen!" laughed Silver.

Silver and Blaze were sitting at a large table with Team JNPR talking about the various pranks that were pulled on Eggman during the building up to the _Egg Ark crisis_ and the transporting of the Mobians to Remnant.

"Doesn't surprise me that much," said Ren. "That guy looks like he's seen a lot of menus."

Everyone burst out laughing. "Joke of the day, from Lie Ren!" giggled Nora.

The atmosphere at the dance club was very relaxed. All of the current Mobians and students were having a very good time. Jaune was still very nervous about finally revealing his feelings to Pyrrha, but he was more relaxed around the amazon since he really had nothing to lose when he told her.

"Good evening. I take it you are having a good time?"

Team JNPR turned around and saw Professor Ozpin standing behind them.

"Oh, hello, Professor. What are you doing here?" asked Jaune.

"Well," began Ozpin, "A beautiful lady that has caught my eye for a long time has finally decided to reveal her own feelings for me, and we are going out on a date."

"Really?" asked Pyrrha with interest. "Who is she?"

Pyrrha's question was answered as a familiar figure approached the Headmaster. "Hello children, it's nice to see you." The figure was none other than... _Glynda Goodwitch!?_

"You're going out with Miss Goodwitch?" asked Jaune in surprise.

"Yes, I am, Mr. Arc. Is that too much of a problem?"

"Well, you could do much worse," Jaune said, recovering a little, hoping that the combat teacher didn't hear him. "What will the other teachers say about this?"

Ozpin looked at Jaune with a knowing smile. "All of the teachers were very congratulatory, except for Professor Port."

"What did he say?"

"He simply said that it was about time we told each other." said Glynda, who was blushing a little at the memory.

"But aren't you afraid that you might show favoritism in a battle situation and not let her fight because of your feelings?" blurted Jaune.

Ozpin gestured for Jaune to come with him. Team JNPR's leader walked along with him to a quieter section of the club. "Now Jaune, is that was has been holding you back from a relationship with Miss Nikos?"

"What? How did you know about that?" asked Jaune before he could stop himself.

Ozpin chuckled before answering. "Please, Mr. Arc. Even Professor Port could tell that you like her, and she you. And he has eyebrows that cover his eyes."

He put his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I will be honest with you, Jaune. I was not sure that you were right for this school, even before I knew about the faked transcript. But I have kept your secret because you do belong at my school. More so than some of the other students, actually. And do you know why that is?"

"N-no, sir."

"I could see that you were a born leader. Your Aura is one of the strongest I have ever seen, and the way you defeated the _Deathstalker_ at your initiation was truly one of the most impressive. More to the point, despite your crush's best efforts, I did find out what happened at the Forest of Forever Fall during that field trip. You defended a bully from the biggest _Ursa_ in Forever Fall, even after he pummeled you!" exclaimed Ozpin, who confirmed Jaune's suspicions on why Cardin has been getting more homework than usual lately.

"Now, despite all of this, do you still say that you are not the right person for Miss Nikos? Quite the opposite, in my opinion! My advice to you is this: tell her how you feel. Believe me, when I finally told Glynda, I felt like a huge weight was lifted from me. Telling Pyrrha you love her will give you one of the greatest feelings you can feel, trust me."

Ozpin left Jaune, who was still sorting through his thoughts and emotions. Before he sat down with Glynda, the Professor sent a message to Rouge, telling the matchmaking bat that success was very near.

 _'Alright, I'll tell Pyrrha in five minutes,'_ Jaune said to himself. _'Oh, screw it, why wait?'_

"Pyrrha, can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Jaune requested, very surprised that he barely stuttered.

Pyrrha stood up and walked with Jaune to the same quiet corner where Ozpin talked to him. "What's up, Jaune?"

' _Oh, boy, here it goes'_. "Pyrrha, I j-just want to say something that I have wanted to say for a long time now."

"And what is it?" asked the amazon. Her heart rate quickened. _'Could this be the day he tells me he likes me?'_

"Before I go on, what I'm about to say isn't 'I like you'.

Pyrrha's heart shattered. "W-what!?" she stammered, tears threatening to appear in her eyes.

The next thing she knew, Jaune's lips were on hers. That kiss sent a shock through Pyrrha, but it was a very pleasant one. All too soon, Jaune removed his lips from hers. "Um… if you don't like me, what was that supposed to be?"

"What I wanted to say for a long time is this: I _love_ you, Pyrrha, Nikos." said Jaune with a grin. Just like Ozpin said, he felt like a huge weight was lifted.

Pyrrha's eyes were filling up with tears again, but with happiness this time. "Oh, Jaune, finally you noticed!" she exclaimed as she hugged him. "I love you too."

Jaune probably wasn't the happiest person in the world at that moment _(Sonic probably found an all-you-can-eat buffet that had hundreds of Chili Dogs),_ but he was in the top five, at least.

Jaune and Pyrrha walked back to their table, hand in hand. Ren and Nora noticed their new closeness. "So, I take it you told her, then?" Ren asked.

"Yes, and I didn't have anything to worry about," said Jaune happily.

"YAY! Don't you just love love?" exclaimed Nora.

A few tables away, Glynda and Ozpin spied the new couple, and they smiled. "Something tells me that those two will be happy together for a long time." said Ozpin.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with their schoolwork, I will have no problems with them," stated Glynda. "By the way, who asked you to talk to Mr. Arc?"

"Rouge, the white Mobian Bat from Team Dark."

"Rouge? She seems like the last person I would expect to play matchmaker."

Ozpin chuckled a bit. "Indeed, but there's more than meets the eye with all of us, Rouge included."

Silver was happy for Jaune, and he silently hoped that whoever helped Jaune get with Pyrrha could help him with Blaze. He suddenly got a message on his scroll, which Ozpin gave him and the other Mobians as a way to communicate in this world. The sender was anonymous, and it said:

_???: "Don't worry, your turn at romance will come soon. Do not reply to this message, you'll know what you need when you need to know it."_

_'Huh, that's convenient. Catchy phrase too.'_ Silver thought.

That evening, Jaune and Pyrrha announced to Team RWBY that they were finally in a relationship. They all congratulated the new couple, and Weiss gave Jaune a knowing wink. The fact that Weiss looked in Pyrrha's diary would be kept a secret between them.

Rouge went to sleep that night satisfied with her work. _'One down, one to go.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has very little changes due to:  
> A) The originals was done somewhat perfectly.  
> And B) I've never done romance so don't expect too much from future chapters.


	19. New Foes

_Egg Ark  
_ _Midnight_

"So what's this big plan of yours, almighty Doctor?" asked Roman Torchwick sarcastically. Eggman was walking down the halls of his base with Roman, showing off his base and his robot factories. Roman was slightly impressed by his acquisition of the Creatures of Grimm, but he wanted to see something better than that before he reported back to Cinder.

"Ho, ho, it's just down here. I have been keeping him powered off because he has a tendency to betray me when he has enough power. It's quite annoying, really."

 _'Gee, I wonder why.'_ thought Roman.

They finally arrived at the right room when Eggman suddenly went pale. The entrance to the room was blown apart outwards, like something got out. He rushed in the room and found scorch and scratch marks everywhere, but no sign of the pile of junk that was critical to his plans.

"Okaaaayy… What could have caused this mess?" asked Roman.

Eggman ignored him and went to a microphone on the wall. "Orbot, what happened in storeroom Metal Sonic?"

"Checking tapes… Oh, boy. You aren't going to like this, Doctor."

"Just show me what happened!" yelled Eggman, who was now sweating profusely. A screen unfolded itself out of the wall, and the video playback began.

The footage showed a pile of parts shoot out wires to the wall, and said pile began to take the form of a hedgehog. Roman watched in fascination as the Hedgehog looked around and crushed a small part with one hand. It then seemed to notice the camera, and it held out its hand. A wave of energy erupted from it, causing the recording to switch to a screen filled with static.

Roman was shocked by what he just saw. "What! Was! THAT!?"

"That was a creation of mine that went rogue a few years ago, posing as me. It took that blasted Hedgehog and his friends to defeat him, and even then, it was not looking good for them during some moments."

Roman was getting fed up with the evasive answering. "But who is it?!"

Eggman looked at him with fear in his eyes and a bitter taste with the words that came out _. "Neo Metal Sonic."_

* * *

_Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _3:00 a.m._

Despite the scheming of Eggman, it was an unusually peaceful night in Forever Fall. The silence was disturbed only by the footsteps of a very large scorpion making its way to a nearby river. The _Deathstalker's_ runes on its carapace glowed in its reflection as it drank from the river. This one woke up from a long hibernation, and it wanted to quench its thirst before it terrorised a nearby village.

Suddenly, it sensed a disturbance nearby. The _Deathstalker_ whirled around to face the source. A metallic creature that resembled a hedgehog was facing it.

The _Deathstalker_ was very intrigued by this being, but it was mostly annoyed that its drink was interrupted. The scorpion roared and lunged towards the robot, all thoughts of caution abandoned. It thrust a claw, intending to crush it, but the robot just caught it and threw the scorpion behind him.

 _'Stupid bug… What did it think it could do to a being like me?'_ thought Neo Metal Sonic.

The _Deathstalker_ was infuriated by this embarrassment. It let out a roar that was heard for miles, and then threw itself at the robot. Metal Sonic blocked the claws again, but this time, he was knocked back by the stinger. He wasn't affected by the poison, of course, but he was knocked to the ground a fair distance away. The _Deathstalker_ eagerly ran forward for the kill.

However, Metal Sonic wasn't out of tricks yet. As the giant mouth filled his vision, he thrust a clawed hand into the scorpion's underside. A black cloud seemed to flow from the scorpion to Metal Sonic. The _Deathstalker_ suddenly felt weaker, as if its energy was being drained. It backed away from the robot, but was too late. The scorpion swayed back and forth, and then finally collapsed.

Metal Sonic stood up, but he had a different look. On his arms and legs was white _armour_ that had glowing runes, not unlike the _Deathstalker's,_ even his metallic silver changed to black. He looked at himself, pleased with the results of his little experiment.

 _"Deathstalker bio-data - has been copied!"_ he proclaimed dramatically.

* * *

_Somewhere above the ocean  
_ _7:30 a.m._

_"This is the Captain speaking. We are on approach to the Vale Airport. Please fasten your seatbelts."_

"Finally, we're here," sighed a girl in relief. She had bright green hair, red eyes, and dark skin. She was wearing a shirt that showed off her midriff and was pretty low-cut. However, she gave off a vibe that said, "Don't mess with me." so that discouraged a lot of guys who might ask her out. Plus, it could also have been the person she was sitting next to. He had grey eyes, a vest and shirt that matched his silver hair, and black pants.

The guy sitting next to her shifted in his seat. "What, did the flight attendant not have much on her this time?"

Emerald shifted her eyes to the speaker. "First of all, Mercury, the flight attendant had a lot of Lien. Second, you snore like an _Ursa_ with a cold."

"Well, excuse me, Miss Thief, I didn't know you had such low tolerances."

Emerald rolled her eyes.

"So, what does the boss lady want us to do while in Vale?"

"We're here to assist in the neutralisation of several key targets. Cinder didn't say who they were; she just requested our presence in dealing with this matter."

The conversation was cut short as the airship glided down the runway for a landing. The duo quickly got off before the flight attendant noticed her missing wallet. They walked down to the docks and entered the warehouse where Roman had the Dust stockpiled.

"Emerald, Mercury, I'm glad you came." Cinder greeted warmly.

"And just who are these intruders?"

The two newcomers turned around and saw Eggman. "Watch your tongue, Doctor. These two are my associates, and they can be quite deadly." Cinder reassures to Robotnik.

"Cinder, may I address my concern, as your associate?" asked Mercury.

"Go ahead."

"Why are we involving this outsider? He isn't part of the White Fang, and it's bad enough that we are working with Torchwick."

"I HEARD THAT!" shouted Roman from the other side of the warehouse.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO!" countered Mercury.

Cinder explained Eggman's credentials and his new role in the organisation.

"So, you're from another world?" asked Emerald. "Clearly, obesity is a universal problem."

"Argh, it's bad enough that Sonic and his friends make fun of me, but now you?!" shouted Eggman. Orbot and Cubot rolled up to either side of him and popped up.

"Well, Doctor, maybe if you would do your daily exercises, you wouldn't be the target of so many fat jokes." stated Orbot.

Cubot completed ignored them and rolled straight for Emerald. "Howdy, little lady. My name is Cubot, and if ya don't mind me sayin', you're purtier than a sunset on a painted desert."

"Uh-um, thanks?" Emerald stammered. She was kind of surprised at the sudden appearance of the robots, let alone one of them flirting with her.

Eggman sighed at Cubot's antics. "Just ignore him. He may be annoying, but trust me, this is an improvement."

"I'll… take your word for it." said Emerald while looking at Cubot confusionly.

"Anyway, who do you want us to kill?" asked Mercury, getting down to business.

"Doctor Eggman here isn't the only being from another world to arrive on Remnant." Cinder took out a scroll and displayed the Mobians. "Your job is to eliminate these beings. I don't care how you do it, just don't draw too much attention to yourselves."

Emerald looked at the photo of Rouge. "I'll take the bat. It says she is a thief?"

"That's right, and one of the best in my world," said Eggman. "Make no mistake, though, she is also one of the top agents in the Guardian Unit of Nations, or G.U.N. for short.

Emerald donned an evil smirk. "We'll see how good she is compared to me."

"What makes you so special, ya little twerp?" demanded Eggman.

"Uh, Doctor? You seem to be missing your goggles." said Orbot.

Eggman felt his forehead, and his goggles were indeed missing. Emerald reached in her pants and pulled them out while grinning. Needless to say, Eggman was very impressed.

"Ok, I take back the twerp remark. Can I have my goggles back?"

Afterwards, Roman walked up to Eggman with a worried look on his face. "How come you didn't tell Cinder about that 'Metal Sonic' freak?"

Eggman, looking equally worried, replied, "Believe me, I don't like having that doppelganger loose any more than you do, but one of the core programs I installed is an insatiable hatred of Sonic. He may end up destroying Sonic for us!" he finished with a manic grin.

"But from what I have heard, you have never beaten Sonic. At least, not for very long. What makes you think you could destroy something that could be even more powerful than him?"

Eggman gulped.


	20. Pasting Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (SPOILER)
> 
> This has to be one of my favourite chapter from the original due to how Thrawn97 tried to make Shadow open-up to others.

_Beacon Academy's courtyard  
_ _10:00 a.m._

_🎵This will be the day we've waited for!🎵_ Ruby sang out loud while taking a stroll around Beacon, listening to her music. _🎵This will be the day we-"_

She stopped singing as she saw a solitary Hedgehog looking over the cliffs. Ruby did a quick mental check of the four Mobian Hedgehogs currently at Beacon, and deduced that this one was Shadow the Hedgehog, based on the black and red fur and solitary persona.

"Hey, Shadow, what are you doing out here?" she asked.

Shadow opened his eyes and looked behind him. "Oh, hey Ruby. I'm just admiring the view. It isn't as impressive as the view from my old home, but it is beautiful nonetheless."

"Why? Where do you come from? Err... Besides Mobius, of course." The young Huntress corrected, in an attempt to understand the black and red Hedgehog more.

Shadow shuddered. "Do you really want to know my past? I've done some things I'm not... proud of."

"Well, if it makes you uncomfortab-"

Shadow straightened up. "No," Shadow quickly interrupted, "I-I think this is something I need to tell. I may not be proud of it, but it is my past."

The black and red Hedgehog sat down and the crimsonette shortly followed suite. "About sixty years ago, a brilliant scientist came up with the idea of making the _Ultimate Life Form_ to cure his granddaughter from a terminal disease. His name was _Gerald Robotnik,_ and his granddaughter was named _Maria_."

Ruby looked startled. " _Robotnik_? Is there any relation between Eggman?"

Shadow nodded. "Ivo was Gerald's grandson, and Maria was his cousin." This information surprise Ruby, thinking that Eggman has- no, had relatives. But what happened to them?

Shadow continues his story, "Gerald was having no luck with creating the Ultimate Life Form until he was contacted by the leader of the _Black Arms_ , an alien race that was hell-bent on the subjugation of all life in the galaxy. Their leader, _Black Doom_ , gave Gerald some of his blood to him, and the professor was finally able to create the Ultimate Life Form, on the condition that the creature would retrieve the seven _Chaos Emeralds_ for Black Doom when they next came to Mobius."

"But what does all of that have to do with you?" asked Ruby.

"The creature that was created…" he took a deep breathe, "was _me_."

Ruby was stunned. "You're the _Ultimate Life Form_ that Gerald guy created?" Then she remembered why Shadow keeps calling himself that and now it makes sense to her.

"Indeed. I grew up as friends with Maria aboard our home- _Space Colony ARK_. We both had dreams about going down to the planet." Shadow closed his eyes in sadness. "Unfortunately, those dreams were broken when the military found out what Gerald was doing. Maria and I tried to escape, but…" a tear slowly formed behind his closed eyelids.

Ruby put a reassuring hand on Shadow's shoulder. He took a deep breath and continued. "Before she was... killed, she sent me down to the surface in an emergency pod, but the military, the _Guardian Unit of Nations_ , were ready when I landed. I tried to run, hide or even fight back but they took me and locked me away in a cryostasis pod for fifty years, on a remote land named- _Prison Island_. Gerald went insane and instructed me to destroy the planet when I was re-awakened.

"Fifty years later, Eggman came and woke me up. I worked with him and Rouge in his plans for world domination because I wanted revenge against the humans who killed Maria. We were close to destroying the planet thanks to the superweapon that was developed on the ARK- the _Eclipse Cannon_. Powered by the _Chaos Emeralds_ , it could destroy planets and pierce stars- and even six of them were enough to destroy half of the moon. However, when the seventh one was inserted into the machine, it started a countdown to descend the ARK from orbit to Mobius' surface. Put simply, the whole station was going to crash into the planet." 

"Did Sonic get involved in any of this?" She asks with concern, _'I mean their alive right now so how did survive?'_

Shadow chuckled a bit. "When I stole the first two or three _Chaos Emeralds_ , everyone thought that I was Sonic. He ended up getting arrested just because too many government officials were colourblind." Ruby laughed at how he and Sonic look nothing alike, "After he was rescued by Tails and Amy, we all ended up on _Space Colony ARK_. Sonic and I fought, but after we found out that Professor Gerald was going to destroy Mobius, we all joined forces to save the planet. Amy helped me remember Maria's true wish for me."

"And what was that, Shadow?" Ruby wonders.

He pauses for a moment and looks upwards into the sky, "She wanted me to give everyone a chance to be happy. So, I joined with Sonic and we used the power of the _Chaos Emeralds_ and transformed ourselves into _Super Sonic_ and _Super Shadow_ , and not only did we destroy the prototype of the Ultimate Life Form and my somewhat biological brother- the _Biolizard_ \- we saved the planet by transporting the ARK into a stable orbit around Mobius. Unfortunately, I ended up using most of my energy into the _Chaos Control._ I ended up landing on the planet, and not in a fun way."

"Well, clearly, you survived, considering that you're standing here." commented Ruby.

Shadow looked at her. "Well, I wasn't heard from for quite some time. I was picked up by Eggman and placed in a stasis pod, and I stayed asleep for a few months. When I was awakened by Rouge the Bat, during that time I had a bad case of amnesia. I teamed up with her and E-123 Omega, who was guarding the bunker I was sealed in long enough to override his loyalty to Eggman. We joined forces with _Team Sonic, Rose,_ and _Chaotix_ to defeat yet another power-hungry megalomaniac, Neo Metal Sonic. After that, I drifted, trying to discover who I was. A few months passed by, and it seemed I would never find my answers." Suddenly his face hardings to the events he explains next.

"That's when the _Black Comet_ reappeared, and the invasion of the _Black Arms_ began."

Ruby was shocked. "You mean the aliens that gived you their blood?"

Shadow nodded. "I was contacted by Black Doom in the beginning, and he wanted me to get him the seven _Chaos Emeralds_. I was foolish enough to go along with him. I wanted answers, and he seemed to be the only person who had them. I would- and did- do anything to get them."

The black hedgehog let a single tear roll down his face. "I killed many Humans and Mobians before Sonic and his friends, even Eggman himself, convinced me to help them. In a final confrontation with Black Doom, I did discover my answers. I defeated him and destroyed the _Black Comet_ with the _Eclipse Cannon_."

Shadow sighed. "After that, I tried to atone for my sins. Twice I tried to destroy the planet for my selfish reasons, and it seemed that no matter what I would do, people might hate me for what I am and what I did. Eventually, though, Rouge was able to help me get a job in G.U.N., though it took a long time for everyone to get over their fear of me."

"Others have tried to sway me to their side, such as half a entity of a Time-God named _Mephiles the Dark_ but I refused his offers every time and unleashed my true power on him." Shadow mentions as he rubs the rings around his wrists, "And even the doctor temporarily corrupted me through a _Chaos Emerald_ I had with me and fought Sonic to a standstill, but he knocked the negative Chaos Energy out of me, literally. Hell, when an entity that ranks himself as ' _Moderator_ of the _Chaos Emeralds_ ' he even tried to kill me for not only being a creation of Chaos Energy, but for using the _Emeralds_ after saying that their continued abuse could destroy the entire planet and the Moderator added me to his kill-list along with Sonic and Eggman too. And finally, I challenged Sonic for a _Chaos Emerald_ during the _Time Eater incident,_ and Sonic once again beated me to see sense again."

"So now you know. I'm a Hedgehog that might as well be called a monster for what I've done. I understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore." Shadow finished with signs of depression creeping through his personality.

Ruby sat quietly, absorbing the story for a minute. Then she looked up. "Shadow, do you regret what you have done?"

"Every day, I even see the faces of the people I've killed. They haunt me, and I know nothing that I do will ever bring them back, not even the powers of the Chaos Force can."

"Stop the self-pity and listen to me, Shadow the Hedgehog." The black and red Mobian was slightly caught off-guard by Ruby's response, "If you regret what you have done, than you are already better than most people who have killed. If you know that you cannot bring them back, well, know that you have the power to prevent people like Eggman, Torchwick or the Grimm from killing or doing other horrible things."

Shadow smiled a little. "You know, you sound a lot like Sonic when he was trying to cheer me up after the _Black Arms crisis_."

Ruby stood up and helped Shadow get back up. "Just know that you're surrounded by friends who can help you, and you can consider me one, as well." Ruby said, smiling.

Shadow smiled in response. "Thank you, Ruby Rose."

"Wanna race to the gun range?"

Shadow smirked and activated his jet shoes. "You sure? I've been told I'm on similar levels of speed with Sonic, though he would never admit it."

"You know about Semblances, right?" Shadow nodded. "Well, mine is speed. So try and keep up, Mr. Ultimate Life Form!" She said in a mockingly playful manner.

The two new friends raced to the shooting range, both a blur of red and black with little rose petals coming from the female speedster.

Meanwhile, Sonic observed everything on a nearby roof. He jumped down, smiling to himself.

"Well, what do you know? Shadow can be friendly after all."

Glynda walked up behind him. "Your friend in black has been through a lot, hasn't he?"

Sonic looked up. "Yeah, you can say that. But he is a good friend, despite his personality." He suddenly did a double take. "Wait a sec, how much of that did you hear?"

"All of it. As our guests, I like to keep up with your well-being." Glynda smiled at the blurs that were Ruby and Shadow. "I feel like those two will be very good friends."

"Well, please don't tell too many people about Shadow's past. He is still pretty sensitive about most of it, especially about Maria."

Glynda nodded in understanding, accepting the blue Hedgehog's request. "We all have something that is better off a secret or between friends." She walked off towards the main tower. As she passed a bundle of bushes, she waved her riding crop and Cardin Winchester popped out, thanks to her telekinetic-like Semblance.

"Tsk, tsk, Mr. Winchester, don't you have something better to be doing?" Miss Goodwitch asked with authority in her tone as Beacon's bully whimpers in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't noticed the two things that probably don't make sense, then along me to explain  
> A) Shadow can remember 'Sonic 06'? Yes he can, as well as the main cast too through different means. Such as Silver and Blaze remembering due to them being unaffected by being sent to another dimension or can exist outside the primary timeline, and some of the other from their exposure to Chaos Energy that protected some of their memories.  
> And B) If you've heard of a series called 'Sonic Stop Motion Adventures', then be aware that I've only taking some events and elements from the series to add personal history to various characters.
> 
> Other events such as elements,lore from 'Archie Comics', the whole 'Nazo Unleashed' story, areas from 'Speed Stories', and 'Sonic: Prologue' are connected to Mobius' history.


	21. Robbers and Robots

_Streets of Vale  
_ _12:30 p.m._

"So, how should I get Silver and Blaze together?" wondered Rouge. She was hanging upside down in an alleyway where no one would disturb her. Emboldened by the success of her first matchmaking with Jaune and Pyrrha, she was trying to come up with a way to get the couple from the future and other dimension to actually become a couple.

She was distracted by a shifty-looking girl walking with an even shiftier guy. Oblivious to the white bat now observing them, Mercury and Emerald were trying to find a likely place for that the Mobians would gather at. "I still say we should just assassinate them at Beacon."

Emerald sighed. "Look, Mercury, these aren't runaways from the White Fang we're tracking, these are beings from another world, each with their own abilities. Even Torchwick had problems with them. Getting close to them is going to be tricky. Plus, Beacon seems to be the place they have made a home at, we can't even get close to that place without arousing suspicion."

 _'Now this is very interesting.'_ thought Rouge. She quickly pulled out a camera from her breastplate and took photos of the duo. Suddenly, the green-haired girl bumped into a woman. While apologizing profusely, Rouge noticed that she pickpocketed her with practiced ease.

 _'Hm. She's good,'_ she thought. She put on a feral grin. _'But I'm better.'_

Rouge detached herself from the plank in the alleyway and flew over to a corner just ahead of the duo. She put herself in a position to turn the tables on Emerald.

Said thief was looking through her newly gotten gains when she suddenly ran into Rouge. "Oh, my, I'm sorry. Can I help you?" Rouge kept her smirk hidden.

Emerald took the proffered hand, only seeing the owner of it fully when she stood up. "What the-"

"Well, you don't see that every day. A talking Bat. You must be Rouge, no?" asked Mercury.

"I'm Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge, handsome," replied the Bat with flirty wink.

 _'Rouge? This is perfect, I can kill her now!'_ thought Emerald as she reached for her sickles.

"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't do that, sweetie," admonished Rouge. "After all, we are in the middle of town in broad daylight. Don't you have somewhere better to be?"

"Sweetie?!" Emerald was very angry now. "Do you know who I am?!"

"Let's see," Rouge said while taking a wallet out and opening it. "Your name is Emerald Sustrai, and from your previous conversation, you are under employment- no wait, partners with the criminal Roman Torchwick, and your profession is a skilled thief, based on the way you stole that woman's money." She threw the girl's wallet back to her.

"How did you get my wallet?!" asked Emerald in shock and amazement.

"Listen, I was a professional jewel thief back in my world, and I still like to keep my skills fresh," said Rouge smugly. "Stealing from other thieves is my favourite hobby. You're out of your league, hun."

Mercury had seen Emerald mad before- he liked to annoy her from time to time- but he had never made her angrier than this white Bat did. It was actually quite impressive.

"Sorry, ladies, but as much as I would like to see you fight, I don't think this is the right place nor time." he said, almost reluctantly.

Rouge looked over their shoulders and shrugged. "You would have lost anyway. Take a look behind you."

The two did so, and found themselves staring into the barrels of two machine guns attached to a red and black robot. "Whoa. Didn't see that one coming." said Mercury.

"I suggest you kiddies run along now. We don't want anyone to get hurt now, do we?" Rouge said.

"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, COMRADE ROUGE." droned Omega.

Emerald and Mercury decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and cowardice was the better part of discretion, so they skedaddled out of there.

"Well, that was fun, even if we now know about two more people against us. Fortunately, I was able to place a tracker on the girl."

"IT IS ONE THING TO BE GOOD AT EMPTYING ONES POCKETS. IT IS SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY TO PUT SOMETHING BACK IN THEM WITH THE PERSON KNOWING." said Omega.

"Why, Omega, was that a compliment?" asked Rouge, a little surprised.

The robot nodded. "HOWEVER, I SUGGEST YOU KEEP THE BOASTING ABOUT BEING A THIEF TO YOURSELF. AFTER ALL, ISN'T IT BETTER TO BE THE GREATEST THIEF IN THE WORLD INSTEAD OF THE MOST FAMOUS?"

"Hm. Good point. But I really can't help myself most of the time." Rouge took out the wallet of the woman that Emerald first stole from. "Now where is that woman that was robbed earlier?"

"Hey, Rouge!"

The white Bat and black Badnik turned around and saw the woman. She had a blue shirt, black pants, and a squirrel tail. "My goodness! Is that you, Tali?"

The Faunus grinned. "Nice to see you again, too." She noticed that Rouge had her wallet. "Thanks for getting my wallet back. I'm normally better at protecting myself against pickpockets." she said while blushing and scratching the back of her head.

"Well, don't worry, honey," Rouge reassured. "I watched her do it. She isn't too shabby, but I'm better."

"Yeah, I'll bet you are." said Tali.

"So what's up?" asked Rouge as she handed the Faunus her wallet.

"Well, we were in the neighborhood, and we thought we would say hi and catch up on things."

"So the _Normandy_ has been docked?"

"Yep. We're currently on that job Miss Schnee gave to us." Tali chuckled a little. "It wasn't until we were halfway to Vacuo when the background check was complete and we found out it was Weiss who sent it. But it does pay well, and maybe Torchwick won't plague us much longer."

Omega suddenly shifted, his optics staring at a dark alley. "I BELIEVE WE SHOULD HAVE THIS CONVERSATION AT BEACON. I AM DETECTING AN EAVESDROPPER, AND IT ISN'T HUMAN IN NATURE."

"It may be one of Eggman's surveillance drones. Come on, let's go," said Rouge. "We should tell Ruby and the others that you're back, anyway."

As the three left to acquire transportation back to Beacon, the source of Omega's unease walked out of the alleyway slowly. As Omega suspected, the culprit was not human, but it wasn't an Eggman drone, either.

The thing that walked out looked like an ordinary girl, actually. She had a gray skirt and top with black and green leggings. On top of her orange hair was a pink bow. She also had some freckles below bright green eyes.

 _'So those people know Ruby?'_ thought the girl. _'Could they be my friends, too?'_

She looked at her hands, which revealed mechanical parts in the palms. _'I doubt that they could be, though. Who would want to be friends with a machine?'_

A shadow fell across Penny's arms. She looked up and saw E-123 Omega. Strangely, he didn't look like he was going to attack the robot girl.

"SO YOU ARE THE INDIVIDUAL WHO WAS LISTENING TO US. GREETINGS. MY DESTINATION IS E-123 OMEGA, THE ULTIMATE E-SERIES ROBOT." There was a slight pause as Omega activated his scanners. "YOU ARE A MECHANICAL CREATION MADE BY HUMANS?"

"Yes, that's right. My name is Penny Polendina. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said with her typical enthusiasm. "You are the robot that came to this world recently? Can I ask you something?"

"YOU ARE ALREADY ASKING ME SOMETHING. BUT YOU MAY ASK ANOTHER QUESTION." said Omega, sounding somewhat amused.

"How are you friends with everyone from your world?"

"THEY ACCEPTED ME FOR WHO I REALLY AM. I MAY HAVE BEEN CREATED BY THEIR MORAL ENEMY, BUT BECAUSE I REJECTED MY CREATORS VISIONS, THEY CAN SEE THAT I AM NOT ALL BAD."

There was a reflective look in Omega's photoreceptors. "SENTIENT MECHANICAL BEINGS SUCH AS US HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE FRIENDS WITH THE ORGANIC CREATURES. THEY CAN SEE THROUGH MY EXTERIOR AND KNOW THE INNER OMEGA."

"You mean they know about your robotic insides?"

"AFFIRMATIVE, BUT THAT IS NOT THE PRIMARY FOCUS. THEY CAN GET TO KNOW THE INTELLIGENCE THAT RESIDES IN THIS FORM. PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS WITH COMRADES SHADOW AND ROUGE HAVE LED ME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT I HAVE A SOUL."

Penny's eyes looked down in sadness. "I wish I could make friends as easily as you can, Omega."

The former Eggman robot held out a clawed hand to Penny. "I WOULD BE HONOURED IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE MY FRIEND."

Penny took the proffered appendage and smiled. "And I would be honoured as well. So, can we go see Ruby and the others?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. YOU HAVE MET THE ORGANIC RUBY ROSE BEFORE?"

"Yep! We actually prevented a Torchwick robbery together."

The two mechanical entities walked off to the airship, talking about their various adventures, ranging from stopping criminals like Roman Torchwick to preventing multiversal destruction from dimension-eating Time-God named Solaris.

To many bystanders, it seemed like an unlikely friendship that was developing between them, but neither of the robots seemed to care.

After all, who doesn't like having friends?


	22. Plans and Plane's

_Beacon Workshop  
_ _7:00 p.m._

"So Tails, how is that tracker working?" asked Rouge.

Everyone was anxiously awaiting the results of Rouge's tracker she planted on Emerald. Team JNPR was with them, as well as Tali Williams. Jaune and Pyrrha were holding hands, and those two seemed like the happiest people alive right now.

"Well, it's stopped moving, and it seems to be in a warehouse at the Vale docks."

"So do we go after that girl then? From what Rouge said, this Emerald girl appears to be in league with Torchwick." said Ruby.

"As much as I would like to go after them now, we have to remember that Torchwick is connected to Eggman, and they are both very dangerous, especially when cornered." said Tali.

"Hey, where's Omega?" asked Rouge.

On cue, the robot walked into the shop. "GREETINGS, COMRADES. I FOUND THE EAVESDROPPER, AND HAVE RETRIEVED HER."

"Wait, ' _Her_ '?" asked Shadow with curiosity.

Omega moved out of the doorway to let Penny in. "Salutations!" she greeted with a smile.

"PENNY!" cried Ruby. "Are you ok? How have you been? Is that a new bow? Are you friends with Omega?"

"Whoa, now, Ruby, let the girl speak." said a very amused Tali.

"Okay, to answer your questions, Ruby, I'm fine, I've been okay, it is a new bow, and yes."

"Omega, you made a friend?" asked Rouge in great surprise. "And here I thought you had no social skills."

"FRIEND PENNY IS NOT A REAL GIRL, COMRADE ROUGE." said Omega.

Everyone had a mental record scratch. "Wait, you mean that she's a man?" asked Knuckles. Everyone except Yang did an anime sweatdrop and ignored him. The blonde just punched him in the head. "Ow!"

"FRIEND PENNY IS A MECHANICAL ENTITY LIKE MYSELF, COMRADES." the black robot confirmed.

"I am the first ever synthetic life form with an Aura." said Penny.

"From what I have read about this 'Aura', only creatures with souls have them," said an impressed Tails. "Whoever made you is a genius in programming."

"Aha! I knew it! Only a robot could have done all that crazy stuff that night!" said a voice from the open window. The owner of said voice was a teenager with an open shirt that showed his muscled chest, and he had brown eyes and spiked blonde hair. More interestingly enough, he was hanging upside down by his tail.

"Sun? What are you doing here?" asked a surprised Blake. The monkey Faunus swung towards the room and flipped a few times, landing on his feet.

"I was just in the neighborhood and decided to say hello." Sun looked at the group of Mobians. "You guys must be the arrivals from another world, right? Sun Wukong, pleasure to meet you."

"Blake, who is this guy?" asked Sonic.

"We met a while back. He was a stowaway on a ship from Atlas. He and I were the ones who found out about the White Fang's alliance with Torchwick." she answered.

Penny rushed up to Sun with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please don't say anything about what I am. My father wouldn't like it if it was spread around. I don't think he would even like that I am telling you guys."

"Whoa, chill, I won't say anything," Sun reassured. "I have told my team about Blake being a Faunus, but you can trust them. We won't blab anything."

"You have a team?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yep. You must be the lovely Pyrrha Nikos." Jaune started to tell Sun to back off, but monkey boy interrupted. "So that must make you Jaune Arc. Nice catch, dude."

And just like that, Jaune's opinion of Sun was reversed. "Oh, well, thank you."

For the next five minutes, Sun was introduced to the rest of beings gathered. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, can we get on with business?" Shadow asked in an impatient tone of voice.

"Right, sorry."

"So, why aren't we going after Torchwick yet?" asked Weiss.

Tails answered, "We still have four _Chaos Emeralds_ unaccounted for. I thought I detected one in the _Forest of Forever Fall_ , but it stopped giving off a signal, so maybe it was retrieved by someone. However, I am detecting a different one."

"Where is it?" asked Yang.

"It looks like it's in a mountain range east of here."

"Really? Man, that's strangely coincidence."

"Why's that, Ruby?" asked Sonic.

Ruby pulled out her weekly schedule. "This weekend is a class field trip into that area!"

Tails jumped up in excitement. "This'll be perfect! I can test out some vehicles I've been working on while we're there!" The two-tailed fox ushered everyone over to a portion of the workshop closed off by a large curtain.

"Ladies, gentlemen, robots, and Faunus', I'd like to present my latest creations!" With a flourish, Tails pulled off the curtain. Revealed was a small blue and red prop plane with some rockets in the rear, as well as what looked like a few snowboards. Sonic whistled in admiration.

"Sweet ride, Tails," said Sun, walking around the plane. "What do you call it?"

"I dubbed it the _Tornado X._ " said Tails proudly.

"Wahoo!"

Everyone stopped gawking at the plane and observed Sonic flying around the room in one of the snowboards. "I haven't felt like this since the last time we saw _Jet the Hawk_!"

"Let me guess: _Extreme Gear_?" asked Blake.

"Give the lady a prize," said Knuckles. "How'd you do it, Tails?"

"Well, to avoid giving you and everyone else a headache, I'll simplify my explanation: I took the design of the original Extreme Gears we had and substituted the power source with Dust. Speaking of which, thank you, Weiss."

The heiress grinned. "What are friends for?"

"It'll need a few more modifications before it's ready for the field, though."

"I'll help you out with that, Tails," said Sun. Everyone looked at him strangely. "What? Just because I'm not a student here doesn't mean I can't help friends out."

Afterwards, Sonic told Ozpin of their plans to join the field/camping trip.

"You can certainly come along. If one of your _Chaos Emeralds_ is there, then it is imperative that you collect them all as soon as possible. The criminals of our world were bad enough before that Dr. Eggman showed up. I cannot imagine what would happen if they got their hands on a gem of limitless power."

Sonic was uncharacteristically solemn. "Believe me, Professor; you do not want to know."

"I can tell some of the things the doctor has done haunts you. I see it in your eyes." Ozpin put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "However, I feel that you and your friends can handle any danger that might show up this weekend. At worst, we might only be attacked by the Creatures of Grimm, but we will be prepared against anything that might threaten us."

Sonic donned his trademark grin. "You can count on us, sir! I'm actually looking forward to fighting more of these Grimm. Hopefully, we won't have to, of course."

Ozpin smiled. "So, why don't you prepare by using the battle simulator? I'm sure the other teachers would be happy to give you and the others some pointers on mastering your weapons."

"Great! I may have used a sword before, but it's nice to have a bit more practice."

As Sonic left, he passed Glynda Goodwitch. "Hey there, Glynda. What's up?"

"Nothing that concerns you." she answered while lightly blushing. Sonic caught the slight colouring of her cheeks.

"Oh, gonna have some quality time with Ozpin? Don't let me stop you."

Glynda entered Ozpin's office and stood next to him as he stared at the shattered moon. He acknowledged her presence by putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, putting her head on his shoulder.

"What are you thinking about, Professor?" she asked softly.

Ozpin gently kissed her forehead. "I was thinking how lucky I am to have met you. Also, I hope you don't mind the Mobians tagging along for the trip this weekend."

"As long as they can handle themselves, of course they can come. And you're such a sweet talker," she said.

"Only with you, my dear. Only with you."


	23. Plans and Vehicles

_Beacon Workshop  
_ _7:00 p.m._

"So Tails, how is that tracker working?" asked Rouge.

Everyone was anxiously awaiting the results of Rouge's tracker she planted on Emerald. Team JNPR was with them, as well as Tali Williams. Jaune and Pyrrha were holding hands, and those two seemed like the happiest people alive right now.

"Well, it's stopped moving, and it seems to be in a warehouse at the Vale docks."

"So do we go after that girl then? From what Rouge said, this Emerald girl appears to be in league with Torchwick." said Ruby.

"As much as I would like to go after them now, we have to remember that Torchwick is connected to Eggman, and they are both very dangerous, especially when cornered." said Tali.

"Hey, where's Omega?" asked Rouge.

On cue, the robot walked into the shop. "GREETINGS, COMRADES. I FOUND THE EAVESDROPPER, AND HAVE RETRIEVED HER."

"Wait, ' _Her_ '?" asked Shadow with curiosity.

Omega moved out of the doorway to let Penny in. "Salutations!" she greeted with a smile.

"PENNY!" cried Ruby. "Are you ok? How have you been? Is that a new bow? Are you friends with Omega?"

"Whoa, now, Ruby, let the girl speak." said a very amused Tali.

"Okay, to answer your questions, Ruby, I'm fine, I've been okay, it is a new bow, and yes."

"Omega, you made a friend?" asked Rouge in great surprise. "And here I thought you had no social skills."

"FRIEND PENNY IS NOT A REAL GIRL, COMRADE ROUGE." said Omega.

Everyone had a mental record scratch. "Wait, you mean that she's a man?" asked Knuckles. Everyone except Yang did an anime sweatdrop and ignored him. The blonde just punched him in the head. "Ow!"

"FRIEND PENNY IS A MECHANICAL ENTITY LIKE MYSELF, COMRADES." the black robot confirmed.

"I am the first ever synthetic life form with an Aura." said Penny.

"From what I have read about this 'Aura', only creatures with souls have them," said an impressed Tails. "Whoever made you is a genius in programming."

"Aha! I knew it! Only a robot could have done all that crazy stuff that night!" said a voice from the open window. The owner of said voice was a teenager with an open shirt that showed his muscled chest, and he had brown eyes and spiked blonde hair. More interestingly enough, he was hanging upside down by his tail.

"Sun? What are you doing here?" asked a surprised Blake. The monkey Faunus swung towards the room and flipped a few times, landing on his feet.

"I was just in the neighborhood and decided to say hello." Sun looked at the group of Mobians. "You guys must be the arrivals from another world, right? Sun Wukong, pleasure to meet you."

"Blake, who is this guy?" asked Sonic.

"We met a while back. He was a stowaway on a ship from Atlas. He and I were the ones who found out about the White Fang's alliance with Torchwick." she answered.

Penny rushed up to Sun with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please don't say anything about what I am. My father wouldn't like it if it was spread around. I don't think he would even like that I am telling you guys."

"Whoa, chill, I won't say anything," Sun reassured. "I have told my team about Blake being a Faunus, but you can trust them. We won't blab anything."

"You have a team?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yep. You must be the lovely Pyrrha Nikos." Jaune started to tell Sun to back off, but monkey boy interrupted. "So that must make you Jaune Arc. Nice catch, dude."

And just like that, Jaune's opinion of Sun was reversed. "Oh, well, thank you."

For the next five minutes, Sun was introduced to the rest of beings gathered. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, can we get on with business?" Shadow asked in an impatient tone of voice.

"Right, sorry."

"So, why aren't we going after Torchwick yet?" asked Weiss.

Tails answered, "We still have four _Chaos Emeralds_ unaccounted for. I thought I detected one in the _Forest of Forever Fall_ , but it stopped giving off a signal, so maybe it was retrieved by someone. However, I am detecting a different one."

"Where is it?" asked Yang.

"It looks like it's in a mountain range east of here."

"Really? Man, that's strangely coincidence."

"Why's that, Ruby?" asked Sonic.

Ruby pulled out her weekly schedule. "This weekend is a class field trip into that area!"

Tails jumped up in excitement. "This'll be perfect! I can test out some vehicles I've been working on while we're there!" The two-tailed fox ushered everyone over to a portion of the workshop closed off by a large curtain.

"Ladies, gentlemen, robots, and Faunus', I'd like to present my latest creations!" With a flourish, Tails pulled off the curtain. Revealed was a small blue and red prop plane with some rockets in the rear, as well as what looked like a few snowboards. Sonic whistled in admiration.

"Sweet ride, Tails," said Sun, walking around the plane. "What do you call it?"

"I dubbed it the _Tornado X._ " said Tails proudly.

"Wahoo!"

Everyone stopped gawking at the plane and observed Sonic flying around the room in one of the snowboards. "I haven't felt like this since the last time we saw _Jet the Hawk_!"

"Let me guess: _Extreme Gear_?" asked Blake.

"Give the lady a prize," said Knuckles. "How'd you do it, Tails?"

"Well, to avoid giving you and everyone else a headache, I'll simplify my explanation: I took the design of the original Extreme Gears we had and substituted the power source with Dust. Speaking of which, thank you, Weiss."

The heiress grinned. "What are friends for?"

"It'll need a few more modifications before it's ready for the field, though."

"I'll help you out with that, Tails," said Sun. Everyone looked at him strangely. "What? Just because I'm not a student here doesn't mean I can't help friends out."

Afterwards, Sonic told Ozpin of their plans to join the field/camping trip.

"You can certainly come along. If one of your _Chaos Emeralds_ is there, then it is imperative that you collect them all as soon as possible. The criminals of our world were bad enough before that Dr. Eggman showed up. I cannot imagine what would happen if they got their hands on a gem of limitless power."

Sonic was uncharacteristically solemn. "Believe me, Professor; you do not want to know."

"I can tell some of the things the doctor has done haunts you. I see it in your eyes." Ozpin put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "However, I feel that you and your friends can handle any danger that might show up this weekend. At worst, we might only be attacked by the Creatures of Grimm, but we will be prepared against anything that might threaten us."

Sonic donned his trademark grin. "You can count on us, sir! I'm actually looking forward to fighting more of these Grimm. Hopefully, we won't have to, of course."

Ozpin smiled. "So, why don't you prepare by using the battle simulator? I'm sure the other teachers would be happy to give you and the others some pointers on mastering your weapons."

"Great! I may have used a sword before, but it's nice to have a bit more practice."

As Sonic left, he passed Glynda Goodwitch. "Hey there, Glynda. What's up?"

"Nothing that concerns you." she answered while lightly blushing. Sonic caught the slight colouring of her cheeks.

"Oh, gonna have some quality time with Ozpin? Don't let me stop you."

Glynda entered Ozpin's office and stood next to him as he stared at the shattered moon. He acknowledged her presence by putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, putting her head on his shoulder.

"What are you thinking about, Professor?" she asked softly.

Ozpin gently kissed her forehead. "I was thinking how lucky I am to have met you. Also, I hope you don't mind the Mobians tagging along for the trip this weekend."

"As long as they can handle themselves, of course they can come. And you're such a sweet talker," she said.

"Only with you, my dear. Only with you."


	24. Breaking in Tornado X

_Beacon Academy's landing strip  
_ _9:00 a.m._

The week leading up to the trip was uneventful; at least, uneventful as it can get at a school to train warriors that also received visitors from another world. Ruby built up more friendships with the rest of the Mobians, but she still considered Sonic and Shadow closer friends. Pyrrha and Jaune were in a happy relationship, and they still didn't know that Rouge was the one that pulled the strings that got them together. Speaking of the white bat, she got some more training with _Lovac_ , and she had gotten pretty good at using all four of her pistols.

When Amy wasn't chasing Sonic, she hung out with Nora Valkyrie. Those two became fast friends, and they often went into the battle simulator together, creating devastating combinations with their hammers. Silver practiced with _Shume_ , and he became proficient at using the boomerang mode without resorting to using his powers.

Tails spent the week making minor improvements on the _Tornado X_ , and it was surprising to everyone that Sun was a big help. Tali and Penny often helped out as well, with the Faunus acquiring useful parts from around the _Normandy_ , and the robot doing some of the heavy lifting. Yang coached Knuckles on improving his skills with his _Clan Blade_ , and he made good progress. Blaze sparred often with Weiss, improving her technique with _Okibi_. Sonic told her more about his encounter with Blaze's Knight of the Round Table counterpart, Sir Percival. Based on that information, she gained the ability to channel her powers into her sword. It no longer took as much energy for her to summon arrows, and she was given the nickname, " _Flames of Kilekion_." **(A/N: Yes, this is an official ability from the game Sonic and the Black Knight when playing as Blaze/Sir Percival.)**

Sadly, Penny and Sun couldn't come. Penny didn't want her father to be suspicious of her whereabouts, and Sun had to get the rest of his team to Vale so they could help out. Nobody knew what Tali and the rest of the crew of the _Normandy_ was going to do now that they had a fix on Torchwick's hideout, but the squirrel Faunus was very confident about a plan she had come up with while talking to Blake and Sun.

When the day finally came for the students of Beacon to head up to the mountains, most of them were excited about the Mobians coming along. The only students not thrilled about it were the members of Team CRDL. Fortunately, everybody ignored them.

"Oh, I can't wait to get going!" said Ruby excitedly. Teams RWBY and JNPR were waiting with everyone else to board the airship. Their bags were packed around them, and they were full of camping equipment, though most of Weiss' cases were filled with clothes. "What? I like to be prepared!" she said when asked about it.

"From what I've read about the place we're going to, it is a somewhat isolated community that has a few campgrounds nearby. It rarely gets attacks from the Creatures of Grimm, but the residents there have set up strong borders to repel any intruders that might show up." said Pyrrha.

Glynda walked up in front of the students. "All right, it's time! Leave your bags by the side, and start boarding!" she called out.

All the Mobians ran up then to board the ship. Knuckles decided to help with packing everyone's stuff into the cargo hold, and the loading finished up quickly and smoothly. However, Sonic and Tails were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, where are Sonic and Tails?" asked Yang.

"Oh, don't worry, they should be here any moment now, hun." said Rouge.

On cue, the sound of a plane taking off filled the air. Everyone rushed over to the windows to see what was making the commotion. They all flinched when a red and blue blur flew past the window.

A voice crackled on the P.A. system. _"Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the_ Tornado X _!"_

The blur slowed down a bit, and revealed was the plane that Tails built. The Fox was in the pilot's seat, and Sonic was lounging on the wing. All of the students clapped and cheered at the plane. Sonic gave a lazy salute at the students.

"Showing off, just like always." muttered Shadow.

Ruby called Sonic with her scroll. "Wow, your plane is so cool! Do you always ride on the wing?" she asked.

_"Most of the time, I do. Sometimes I ride in the back when there's trouble and that when I shoot at stuff with the turret. Anyway, I bet you're wondering why we're taking this baby with us."_

"The thought did cross my mind." said Blake.

 _"Well, Tails mentioned that while the location of the_ Chaos Emerald _is near the town and campgrounds, the locations of them are often off the beaten path. So, we can use the_ Tornado X _to get around in the mountains. Plus, I've always liked aerial battles."_

"Well, don't stray too far away from the ship," advised Weiss. "Nevermores might see you as prey. Just of curiosity, how armed is that plane?"

 _"Tails here. I've got so many weapons in here, it'll make Omega seem conservative."_ he said in comparison to the walking arsenal.

"HIGHLY UNLIKELY, COMRADE TAILS." droned Omega.

The trip was uneventful as they passed the borders of the Emerald Forest. Suddenly, a loud roar filled the air. A large black bird flew up from the forests below and started to fly towards the airship.

"Nevermore sighted! Engage weapons!" Glynda called out.

A crewmember walked up to her. "Bad news, ma'am. All our offensive weapons are offline. We're sitting ducks up here!"

Glynda grabbed the crewmember's collar. "What do you mean, our weapons are offline?! Are you joking?!"

"I don't have a sense of humour, ma'am. I never joke." said the helpless officer.

 _"_ Tornado X _to Glynda. Just sit tight, Tails and I will handle this."_

* * *

Sonic got off of the wing and went to the back of the plane. "Tails, I have a need. A need for speed!"

"Roger! Transforming now!"

Tails pulled a lever on the dashboard of the plane. The wings reversed their positions and rotated to 45 degrees while the tail rose up. The propeller stopped spinning and the nose extended to cover it up. The _Tornado X_ put on a burst of speed as the rockets suddenly gave it more thrust.

"Wahoo! It's been a while since we're done this, huh Tails?" Sonic shouted with glee.

"Not since the _Dark Gaia crisis_. Hopefully your targeting skills are still sharp!"

Tails dived towards the Nevermore. The giant raven was considering the big ship and its occupants for a meal, but it decided to go after the smaller ship instead. It swooped towards the plane, and when it looked like they were going to collide, the _Tornado X_ dived under the Nevermore. Tails activated a switch, and a mounted turret popped up. Sonic put his hands on the triggers, deactivated the safeties of the gun, and pointed the barrels at the belly of the giant bird.

"Safeties off! Firing!"

Sonic began shooting at the Nevermore. Each bullet hit its underside, but they didn't seem to be doing too much. So, he pressed a button that switched to armour-piercing ammunition, with satisfying results.

"Take that, you overgrown turkey!" shouted Sonic. Enraged and in pain, the Nevermore flapped its wings and sent a rain of feathers down onto the _Tornado X_. Tails weaved the plane back and forth expertly to avoid the missiles.

"Tails! I think we might have to go up close and personal with this thing," said Sonic.

"Roger that!"

Tails pulled up on the steering wheel, and the _Tornado X_ started to climb rapidly. While they were rising, Tails took the opportunity to shoot a few missiles into the Nevermore, leaving it dazed and confused. At the apex of the ascent, Sonic took out _Cobalt Shard_ and jumped from the plane, diving towards the Nevermore.

* * *

On the airship, Glynda watched with amazement at the impromptu skydive. She walked up to Knuckles. "Does Sonic do this sort of thing often?"

"What, dive out of a perfectly good airplane? Of course he does!" he answered. "He's done crazier things than this for recreation!"

* * *

Sonic dived towards the giant bird, quickly reaching terminal velocity. The Nevermore looked up, and the last thing it saw was the soles of the hedgehog's shoes before it felt an unbearable pain in its head, then nothing. As the _Tornado X_ passed the falling bird, Sonic pulled his sword out of its skull and leapt onto the plane.

"Well, Tails, how does this plane compare to the others you've built?" Sonic asked as the _Tornado X_ shifted back into biplane mode.

"It handles like a dream." said a smiling Tails. Sonic was going to say something else, but his scroll started ringing, so he answered it.

_"Sonic, this is Glynda Goodwitch."_

"I take it you saw everything?" he asked.

_"That was probably the most ridiculous, most reckless, and most psychotic method of killing a Creature of Grimm. Of course, if that's what it takes to kill one, so be it."_

Sonic smirked in amusement. "Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment."

Glynda ignored his comment. _"Now, that being said, I think I believe you now about Tails being a flying genius. His piloting is extraordinary."_

"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch!" Tails called out.

 _"Are our weapons online?"_ Glynda asked the crewmember with no sense of humour.

_"Yes, ma'am, all weapons are now functional."_

_"Excellent,"_ said Glynda. _"Hopefully the rest of this trip will be uneventful. Do you require any fuel, Mr Prowler?"_

"Do you have any chili dogs?" asked Tails.

The headmistress paused. _"You're telling me that plane runs on the power of chili dogs?"_

"Oh, no, the plane's fine. Sonic just forgot to pack a lunch before we left."

Glynda sighed. _"I'm sure I can send a drone out to you."_

"Thanks!" said Sonic. As he hung up, Glynda reflected on how the Mobians made life more... interesting for her.


	25. Camping and Infiltrating

_White Fang recruiting center in Vale  
_ _12:30 p.m._

"So why do you want to join the White Fang?"

Tali shifted nervously in her seat. "I want to get back at those humans that took everything from me. My home was burned to the ground because of them, and I want revenge!" she answered with a passion she did not have. Fortunately, the recruiter didn't seem to notice it.

"Excellent. You don't seem to have any record of training, but you passed your combat test with flying colours. Welcome aboard. I'll have someone take you to your room."

As Tali followed a Faunus with antlers, she kept her head straight while her eyes explored her surroundings behind a Beowolf mask that the White Fang were so fond of giving recruits. When she finally was alone in her assigned room, she first took a device from her right gauntlet and scanned the room for listening devices. When she was satisfied that nobody would be listening in, she took out a communicator from her left gauntlet and put it to her ear.

"Squirrel-1 to showboat, come in." she said quietly.

_"Squirrel-1, this is showboat, go ahead Tali."_

"I've infiltrated the White Fang successfully. Now, I just have play along with this psychotic family until they feel like sending me to Torchwick. Fortunately, they liked my combat skills a lot, so hopefully I might not have to murder civilians, over."

_"Good work, Tali. Now please don't get killed, or Shepard will kill me for this. Over."_

_"Darn right, I would,"_ a third voice cut into the conversation. _"You know I worry about you, Tali. I know that you're the best person for this kind of job, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."_

"And I love you too, John," said Tali playfully. "If anything is going to kill me, it'll be either the boredom of waiting, or this stupid mask."

* * *

_Normandy's bridge_

"Just be careful," said Shepard. He leaned back in his chair as he turned off his radio. He looked at his guest with a weary look in his eyes. "Sorry about that, Professor. I hope you don't mind my organization's methods."

"I do not mind at all, John," said Professor Ozpin. "Truth be told, I have actually followed the exploits of your organization for many years. I'm quite impressed with it, really. I do have to wonder, though, how you got involved with Torchwick and my students."

Shepard took a sip of his coffee before speaking. "I actually met Yang Xiao Long before." He revealed his prosthetic leg. "That girl saved my life from the nastiest _Akula_ I've ever seen. I owed her one, so when she asked for my help in retrieving a _Chaos Emerald_ from the bottom of the sea, I accepted. After that adventure, Miss Weiss Schnee sent us a contract to track down Roman Torchwick."

"But do you like endangering your future wife at the hands of the White Fang?" Ozpin asked in a concerned voice.

"Are you kidding? I hate every minute that she isn't with me!" Shepard took a few deep breaths before resuming. "But it was her idea, and I think it's about time someone infiltrated the White Fang."

"It's very curious how a human like yourself fell in love with a Faunus. If you don't mind me asking, how did it happen?"

Shepard's eyes twinkled in memory. "I was looking for a new member of the crew when I came across this woman who clearly had more potential than the government permitted her to use. Because she was a woman and a Faunus, it seemed like she would be destined for a dead-end desk job. Luckily, I always take on the best, and she was it."

"So you have no discrimination against the Faunus?" asked Ozpin in surprise.

"Heck, no! When I take on a new crewmember, I always look for talent and character. If that person has a tail or different ears, then that just means that they have extra talents that can be utilised. As for Tali, well, after working with her for a few years, we found that we liked each other more than just crewmember and captain. I was worried that the others might not like the fraternization between ranks, but-"

 _"Captain, we already said we were okay with you being with Tali,"_ crackled the radio. _"You two were made for each other! All of us could see the mutual attraction from day one!"_

"Yeah, I know that, Mr. Clarke. Now get back to work and stop listening in on our conversation!" scolded Shepard, though it was in amusement.

"You have a fine crew, Mr. Shepard," said Ozpin as he stood up. "I hope that you will give me updates on your mission. Good luck to you and Miss Williams."

"Thank you, Professor." said Shepard as he shook Ozpin's hand.

* * *

_Mountain region  
_ _3:00 p.m._

"Ruby, I think that might not be the best place to set up the tent." said Weiss.

The students of Beacon had finally arrived at the campgrounds in the mountains, and were trying to find the right place to make camp. Half of the student had set up their tents, but Team RWBY was in the half that had not yet.

"Why not? We're only a few feet away from the bathrooms! If we ever need to go, we won't have to walk very far!"

"Um, that seems like a terrible idea. Have you smelled the area around here?" asked Blake.

"Nope! My nose has been stuffed up all day!" said Ruby cheerfully.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang anime sweatdropped

"Hey, ladies!"

Team RWBY looked up to see Sonic and Tails. "We saved a spot for you over by us!"

"Thank you, Sonic!" said Ruby, forgetting the idea of pitching the tents near the bathrooms. Sonic led them to a separate spot in the forest, where Team JNPR and the rest of the Mobians had already set up camp. Nearby was the _Tornado X_.

"Why is this on a small hill?" asked Blake as she laid out the tent and raincloth.

"The weather around here is unpredictable. If it rains, we will still be dry inside the tent." explained Tails.

"Will it rain?" asked Jaune. "I'm hoping it will, because I saw Team CRDL set up camp in what looked like a dried pond."

"PRECIPITATION PREDICTED WITHIN THE NEXT TWENTY-FOUR HOURS," informed Omega. "CHANGED OF TEAM CRDL BEING SOAKED TONIGHT: 110 PERCENT."

"Why 110 percent?" asked Nora.

"BECAUSE OF THEIR PAST TRANSGRESSIONS AGAINST COMRADE ARC AND CONTINUING HARASSMENT OF THE FAUNUS STUDENTS, I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE THEY HAVE THE MOST MISERABLE TRIP EVER. OF ALL TIME."

"Yes!" whispered Jaune.

The tent pitching went off without any problems, although Ren had to keep Nora from hammering the tent stakes with _Magnhild_. Knuckles decided to go get wood for fire, and Rouge got a bats-eye view of the place. She noticed that the borders of the grounds and most of the surrounding forest had robots patrolling the area. Unlike the robots that the Mobians fought when they first encountered Roman, these droids had white armour and looked less threatening. She flew over to Glynda Goodwitch and asked her about them.

"Those are called _Atlesian Knights_. They're pretty new models. According to General Ironwood, they are 'Sleeker, smarter, and admittedly, a little less scary'. I'm actually surprised to see them out here already. That model was only recently released."

Professor Port joined the conversation. "But surely the border isn't protected only by those robots, right?"

"Peter, they still have stationary turrets in strategic locations." said Glynda.

"Do they only target the Creatures of Grimm? If the past tells me anything, the _Chaos Emeralds_ are never in easy places to find. We will most likely need to go off the beaten path." said Rouge.

"I'll talk to the Huntsman in charge and ask him to calibrate the sensors to delegate you and the others as non-threatening." promised Glynda.

"Thanks honey. See you later!" said Rouge as she flapped her wings and flew back to the campsite. She saw that Knuckles had brought a lot of wood, and Tails had put a tarp over a lot of logs to keep them dry. Teams RWBY and JNPR had set their tents up, and were now lounging beside the fire pit. However, she noticed that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's the Ice Queen?" she asked.

"I know you're my friend, Rouge, but don't call me that!" said a voice from Team RWBY's tent.

"What are you doing in there, Weiss?" Rouge asked.

"I'm changing into something more appropriate for outdoors. For once in my life, I have to give up style for practicality. Just give me a few minutes!"

Meanwhile, Ren was busy trying to start a fire using two sticks. As one might imagine, it wasn't going so well. Blaze was going to help him, but Ren didn't want to depend entirely on the Mobians. Nora walked over to him. "Can I try?" she asked.

Ren gave her the sticks, and Nora started rubbing them much faster than he was. No one could see her hands, she was so fast. In no time at all, she got a spark, and the newspaper and kindling started to burn. Nora put the sticks in the fire with a satisfied smirk.

"Okay, how did she do that?" asked Silver.

"It was probably the four sodas and ten candy bars I had on the ship." she said merrily.

"Do you ever come off of a sugar rush?" asked Amy.

"Nope!"

A few hours passed by, and the fire was burning nicely. Weiss finally got out of the tent, and she had changed into an outfit that was exactly the same as her usual dress, except for one detail.

"All that time and you just put on a dress with a hood?" chuckled Sonic, who was setting up a hammock.

"For your information, this dress has special Dust woven into the cloth which keeps it clean all the time, and nothing is wrong with wearing a hood."

Ruby slid next to her, said "Yeah!", and they shared a high-five.

Tails and Ren volunteered to cook burgers for everyone. Soon the smell of sizzling beef and bacon was in the air. Blake and Blaze had wandered off earlier to a nearby pond, and came back with a lot of fish, so the cats had the rest of their meals set. As they all ate, there was a feeling of relaxation among the Mobians and the humans. Even though tomorrow was probably going to have a lot of work, they didn't care, and were just happy to be among friends. Well, except Shadow, maybe, but not even an apocalypse could change his outlook.

"So, does anybody have any ghost stories?" asked Tails as the evening set in.

"I've got one," said Ruby. Everyone sat down to listen. "A long time ago, in this very forest, there was a farmer who had a cow."

"This ought to be good." whispered Yang to Knuckles. Ruby glared at her sister, then continued.

"This cow was the target of many attacks on this farmer's land by the Creatures of Grimm, so he did what he felt was the only thing he could do. He spent many days and nights digging a hole, and put the cow into it.

"Word got around to a friend of the farmer who lived nearby. Fearing for his friend's sanity, he went to try to talk him out of this idea and let the cow out of the hole. The two friends argued for a long time, and it became so fierce that the friend killed the farmer, but not before the farmer had mortally wounded him. The friend, in his dying state, tried desperately to dig the cow out, but he could not finish it before he died.

"To this day, his spirit still wanders this forest, pleading for someone to help him free the cow. On some nights, you sometimes hear a voice crying out, _'Free Edgar'_." she finished.

There was a lengthy pause. Jaune was pale-faced and holding Pyrrha for dear life, while the amazon was trying very hard to breathe. "Well, I'm spooked." said Sonic.

"Are you kidding? That is probably the most ridiculous story ever. Of all time." snorted Weiss. Ruby just stuck her tongue at her.

Glynda walked up to their site. "Good evening," she greeted. "Is everyone ready for tomorrow?"

"Ready for what?" asked Nora.

Pyrrha finally made Jaune loosen his death grip on her, and she was able to answer. "You forgot already, Nora? We're going to the ruins that are not far from here. They were supposedly created before humankind first encountered the Creatures of Grimm."

Sonic whistled. "That old, huh?" Pyrrha nodded.

"I wonder if there are any jewels around there." wondered Rouge.

Tails brought up a map of the area with his Miles Electric. He pointed at a blinking dot that was surrounded by strange squares. "Oddly, according to this, that's where we'll find the next _Chaos Emerald_!"

"Very well. Sleep well everyone, and stay dry. We are most likely getting rain tonight."

Sonic attached a rain fly to his hammock, and he settled into it. Teams RWBY and JNPR went into their separate tents while the Mobians also got ready to go to bed. The members of Team Dark volunteered to keep watch because all three members didn't need sleep, much.

* * *

_Borders of the mountains  
_ _12:15 a.m._

It did indeed rain that night, and the forest was filled with the sound of raindrops. A shadowy figure swiftly made its way to the border, where two Atlesian Knights could be seen standing at attention next to the large wall that kept the Creatures of Grimm out of the campsite.

As the figure approached the two robots, he could hear their conversation.

_*Hey.*_

_*Yeah?*_

_*Do you ever wonder why we're-*_

The conversation was cut short as the figure threw something at both robots, causing their bodies to spasm and let off a large amount of sparks. After a few seconds, the robots stood back at attention, as if nothing happened.

If Neo Metal Sonic could grin, he would have done so. He had found his enemy, and these robots would help him. The virus he installed in them would track Sonic and his friends down, and he would be able to obtain his revenge.


	26. Mountain Ruins

_Beacon Campsite  
_ _7:30 a.m._

The sun shone brightly on the damp campsite. Seeing that she was the only one awake, Ruby unzipped her team's tent and walked out, breathing in the fresh air. She noticed that Sonic's hammock was empty, but she didn't worry too much. He was always running off doing who knows what, but he would always come back.

Team JNPR was already up, and Ren was getting a small stove burning. Jaune and Pyrrha were walking back to the campsite.

"Did you guys see Team CRDL's tent?" asked Jaune.

"No, why?" asked Ruby.

"Apparently, Cardin really wanted a water bed, because he got one!" Jaune laughed. "I've never seen so much water in a place where there was none the night before!"

Upon further questioning, Ruby found out that the depression where Team CRDL had set up their tent had gotten six inches of water, and all four members were completely soaked. Also, all their extra clothes had gotten wet, so they could not even change into something dry.

"Man, karma sure is nasty," said Pyrrha. "Anyone feel sorry for them?"

"Nope," said Jaune. "Maybe if they did not pick on the Faunus so much, I would have a little sympathy for them. As it is, I do not."

Team Dark appeared later on when everyone was awake. They did not see or hear anything unusual, and began to eat breakfast with everyone else (with the exception of Omega, of course). A certain Hedgehog was still missing, though.

"Hey, where's Sonic?" asked Amy.

"Don't worry, he'll probably respond if I say he's your boyfriend." said Nora.

"I'm not her Chaos-damn boyfriend!" said Sonic, who was standing on a tree overlooking the area.

"Called it! I knew he was around!" said Nora proudly. Sonic just jumped down from the tree and began eating his breakfast.

After everyone packed a bag lunch and set up miniature turrets to protect their campsite, they all walked over to the teacher's site, where most of the other students had gathered.

"All right, students," began Professor Port. "The ruins we are going to were built before humans and Faunus had encountered the Creatures of Grimm. Many superstitions pervade this place, but most of them are, of course, superstitions. Still, it may not be a good idea to touch suspicious objects."

"These ruins are some of many structures that were abandoned before the people of Remnant set up the four main kingdoms," said Doctor Oobleck rapidly. "As such, they must be treated with the utmost respect."

"Remember, the only things you can take here are pictures. So leave it at that, students. That goes for our Mobian guests as well." finished Glynda sternly.

"Believe me, Miss Goodwitch, the only way these ruins will be destroyed is if a battle takes place. Even in the unlikely event that happens, we will make sure not to disturb the ruins." promised Sonic.

"Can't really say the same with Omega, though." muttered Rouge.

As the assembled students and Mobians walked to the ruins, there was a feeling of anticipation in the air. No one knew what to expect to find, as the only ruins most of the students had seen were destroyed with Team RWBY's fight with the Nevermore on their initiation.

As the most traveled of the Mobians, Sonic had seen his fair share of ruins during his adventures, and he was wondering if these were going to be any different from the ones he had seen on Mobius.

After a few minutes of walking, the group finally had arrived. The ruins were pretty large, and showed only small signs of wear and tear from the elements. It could only be described as a town of sorts, with a large pyramid structure in the middle.

As they passed the entrance, which was guarded by more Atlesian Knights, Tails and Rouge flew up to get an aerial view of the place. The Bat thought she saw something shiny, but it turned out to be a combination of a water trail left by Team CRDL and a candy wrapper left by Cardin. Rouge made a mental note to tell Glynda that Cardin was littering and resumed her search of the ruins for the _Chaos Emerald_.

Silver was walking near the pyramid when he saw a faint glimmer half-buried in the ground. He knelt down and dug the object up, which was a small pendant made of three triangles. He pocketed it, thinking it might be important later on, and continued looking for the _Chaos Emerald._

Yang noticed that a certain Echidna wasn't as excited about looking around at the ruins. "What's wrong, Knux?"

"This place… It reminds me of my island, and the reason why I'm the last Echidna." he said solemnly.

Yang looked at him with a concerned glance. "What happened? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

"Many millenia ago, my people, the Echidnas, were locked in battle with a rival tribe, the _Nocturnus_. It seemed that my tribe was going to lose that war, were it not for the intervention of some higher power called ' _Argus_ '. This Argus teleported the _Nocturnus clan_ to a dimension called the _Twilight Cage_ , and it appeared that my tribe had won the war. However, the leader, _Pachamacac_ , wanted to make sure that we never had the lower hand again. He wanted to use the power of the _Chaos Emeralds_ from a nearby shrine that was populated with _Chao_.

"However, he didn't want to stop at just the _Chaos Emeralds_. He set his sights on the most powerful gem in the shrine: the _Master Emerald_. With it, one could control the seven _Chaos Emeralds_. Unfortunately, it was guarded by _Chaos_ , a being that was made out of water. Pachacamac, disregarding the requests of his daughter, _Tikal_ , attempted to seize the _Master Emerald_ , not caring about the Chao that were living there. Chaos was enraged at the harm done to his Chao and Tikal, whom he thought of as a trusted friend. Using the negative energies of the Chaos Emeralds, he turned into _Perfect Chaos_ , a large water dragon and wiped out all but a handful of Echidnas before Tikal trapped him and herself in the _Master Emerald_. Because Tikal feared a day when someone of evil heart might want to release Chaos, she tapped into the _Master Emerald_ to raise the shrine and some of the land up into the sky, creating _Angel Island_."

"Wow," said Yang after a few seconds. "When did you find out about this?"

"Eggman flew up to Angel Island and broke the _Master Emerald_ , releasing Chaos. After a series of adventures with Sonic, Tails, Amy, and her friend Big, we stopped Eggman, but Chaos was able to acquire all seven _Chaos Emeralds_ to form _Perfect Chaos_ once again. He ended up destroying most of Station Square with his rage. Fortunately, Sonic was able to use the positive energies of the _Chaos Emeralds_ to become _Super Sonic_ , and he defeated Chaos. This resulted in Chaos losing his anger against the world, and he became a peaceful being once more."

Knuckles put a hand on a wall. "Because of the greed of my ancestors, I am the last guardian Echidna. The only other living Echidnas left are those still locked away in the _Twilight Cage_." He looked down in sadness. "There are only very few of us left."

"Knux, don't you dare think like that!" said Yang sternly. She kneeled down in front of the red Echidna, purple eyes locking with each other. "Even though you may be the last of your species, you aren't alone! You have lots of friends who care about you, including me. So don't be all mopy just because you're ancestors did some stupid things. The past was their time, and this is your time."

Knuckles slowly smiled. "Thanks, Yang. I needed that." The two bumped fists, then resumed the search for the _Chaos Emerald_ , the Echidna's spirit buoyed by the blonde.

A few hours passed by, and there was still no sign of the _Chaos Emerald_. Teams RWBY and JNPR and the Mobians looked everywhere, but Tails could not get an exact location of the Emerald. They saved the pyramid for last, since that was the building the rest of the Beacon students first looked at. After eating a brief lunch, the group entered the pyramid.

Sonic was impressed by the inside. The walls were decorated with murals of the local scenery in ancient times, and all of them were very well preserved. When he asked how that was, Pyrrha informed them that the people who lived here had found a type of _Dust_ that preserved images so they would not be affected by the march of time.

"Wow, this is so cool!" gushed Ruby, her voice echoing faintly in the pyramid walls.

"I never thought that ruins like these would be so fascinating," said Silver in awe. "The only ruins left in the time I came from were burned or burning wrecks, but they were mostly skyscrapers made of steel, concrete and glass."

"Hey, check this out!"

Everyone rushed over to Tails, who was in front of a large wall that had an image of a large Creature of Grimm no one had ever seen before. However, it did resemble a certain mythological creature of fame. When the others saw it, Sonic instantly compared it to the prediction of Perfect Chaos' return at the _Mystic Ruins_.

"Is that a… dragon?" asked Jaune in shock. The mural did indeed depict a large dragon-like Creature of Grimm attacking a small town. If scale was anything to go by, this creature was massive.

"Holy Chaos," said a visibly shaken Shadow. This surprised everyone else more than the dragon on the wall. "That's bigger than the _Biolizard_ , maybe even _Solaris_."

" _Solaris_?" remarked Sonic incredulously. "That thing looks bigger than _Dark Gaia_!" 

"Unfortunately, the name of the creature has been scratched out," said Tails. "However, it does tell a story about how a young warrior defeated it." He pointed at a section of the mural that featured a young man with bear ears on his head wielding a sword and striking down the dragon. A small caption labeled his name as " _Mogar_."

"Oh, wait, I think I remember this story!" said Weiss. "The creature's name was forgotten, but the warrior was hailed as a king before he died of old age. His age was a time of peace before the _Great War_."

"King Mogar…" murmured Blake sadly. "What would you think of this era now?"

Any further musing of the subject were interrupted by a rumbling in the ground.

"Earthquake! Everyone, get out, now!" shouted Sonic. The humans, Mobians, and Faunus ran for the entrance, but Silver tripped on a loose tile. He hit his head and became unconscious as a large part of the ceiling fell and blocked the entrance.

Outside, everyone was gasping for breath at their escape. Amy Rose did a quick count and found they were missing someone.

"Where's Silver?" she asked, fear creeping into her voice.

The humans and Mobians looked around in a panic. It seemed they had left Silver behind in the confusion.

"Let's get back in there!" shouted Nora and Amy as they prepared to break the slab blocking the entrance with their hammers.

"No, don't!" yelled Blaze. "If you break it, the whole building might collapse on him!"

Amy and Nora paused just as their hammers were about to hit the slab.

"Well, what do you propose we do, then?" asked Shadow harshly, forming Chaos Energy around his fists. Before the pyrokinetic Cat could answer, the sound of gunfire reached them. Soon after that, the various teams of Beacon Academy could be seen running towards the ruckus.

"What the heck is going on over there?" Sonic asked a passing team, which turned out to be Team CFVY.

"The _Atlesian Knights_ are going haywire!" responded Velvet. "They're destroying the ruins!"

"Well, that's our cue!" said Ruby.

"But what about Silver?!" cried Blaze. She seemed fairly distraught.

"Don't worry, Silver's alive," Tails reassured while looking on his Miles Electric. He had pulled up a screen that was like a heart monitor with pictures of each Mobian on the left. He pointed to Silver's picture. "According to his health monitor, he's unconscious, but otherwise unharmed."

Pyrrha put a hand on Blaze's shoulder. "We'll get to him, Blaze. But right now, we have to make sure these robots don't make his situation worse."

Blaze stared at the entrance to the pyramid. "We'll get you out, Silver." she said softly. She then drew _Okibi_ out from its sheath and dashed to the sounds of battle. The others followed, hoping that Silver could hold out long enough for a rescue.


	27. Silvery Journey

_Mountain Ruins  
_ _3:00 p.m._

Inside the collapsed pyramid, the only sounds to be heard were the faint sounds of the outside battle. However, that relative silence was broken by moans of pain as Silver slowly regained consciousness.

"Ugh, my freakin head…" he groaned holding his head. The Hedgehog slowly pieced together what had happened. He looked at the large slab blocking the entrance. He tried using his telekinesis on it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Well, guess I won't be going out that way." he said to himself. He took out _Shume_ and activated the flashlight on it. As he swung it around, he saw a large hole in the floor where there wasn't one before.

"Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess." he murmured. He jumped into the hole, using his powers to slow his fall. As he descended, he slowly formed a plan.

"Tails said that the _Chaos Emerald_ was in the general vicinity. Maybe if I find it, I'll be able to use _Chaos Control_ and get myself out of here!" Silver thanked whatever higher power that influenced Shadow to tutor him on how to use some of the Chaos abilities. He wasn't too proficient at them yet, but he was at least 'Sonic good' at Chaos Control, and he arrived at his destinations in one piece.

Once Silver landed, he was surprised to see the tunnel he arrived at was a long hallway with a similar design to the pyramid on the surface. However, there was a lack of murals on these walls. Also, where there was light in the exhibits above, it was pretty dark down where he was.

"Man, this is spooky," said the white Hedgehog. "All I need is a ghost to give me a warning about something."

 ** _"Intruder, turn back now!"_** an eerie voice wailed.

 _'Ah, there we go.'_ thought Silver with small smirk. He really wasn't scared by this voice. "Listen, I don't have time to talk, so I'll just cut to the chase. I really didn't want to enter these passageways, but circumstances forced me to do this. Maybe if you help me find what I'm looking for, I can get out of here quicker, and we'll all be happy. Deal?"

 ** _"Now you shall- wait, what?"_** The voice suddenly lost some of its spook factor as it registered what Silver said. Apparently it was caught off guard by the nonchalance of the intruder.

"You heard me, oh spirit from beyond. I can't get out via the surface, so I came down here, hoping for an exit or a glowing gem. Preferably the gem, but either one works."

 ** _"Never! You will die for desecrating these halls with your footsteps, worm!"_** the voice said, apparently regaining his spook.

Silver sighed and rubbed his temples. _'Now I think I know what Sonic goes through when an enemy calls him anything but a Hedgehog.'_

**_"Now, prepare for oblivion, you insignificant human!"_ **

_'A blind ghost? Now I've at least heard everything.'_ thought Silver while sweatdropping. "Okay, first of all, I'm not a human nor a Faunus, I'm a Hedgehog. Second, this gem probably would have arrived within the past few weeks, and not part of what must be an abundance of treasure-"

 ** _"Oh, that thing?"_** the voice said, now sounding less like a cliche ghost and more like an actual person. ** _"Now that you mention it, a blue gem appeared suddenly in the treasure room not too long ago. It was the most exciting thing that happened in the past two millennia."_**

"Yeah, I'll bet. Could you help me out?"

As if a switch was thrown, torches on the walls suddenly lit up, transforming the area from dark and gloomy to bright and cheerful.

"Thanks, um…" Silver trailed off, not sure what the ghost's name was.

 ** _"What? Oh, right."_** Ahead of Silver, something caused the dust on the ground to swirl dramatically. After a few seconds, a see-thru Faunus appeared in front of him. **_"Wow, you really are a Hedgehog."_ **the apparition said. He had bear ears and wore what must have been high quality robes.

"Yup. My name's Silver. Let's see, judging by the bear ears and regal clothes, I'm guessing you are King Mogar?"

"Bingo-bango. How come you weren't scared by me?"

Silver chuckled as he put away _Shume_. "I'm not from Remnant, your Highness, I'm from a world called Mobius. Heck, not only am I from another world, I'm from a completely different time frame. I come from the future, and I've seen and fought crazier things than a ghost king."

 ** _"Really? Well, that's very interesting,"_** the ghost of Mogar said, intrigued. **_"Now, let me show you to the treasure room."_**

As the ghost led the Hedgehog down the halls, they passed a door that was covered in all sorts of chains and locks. There were even a few protective charms on it.

"What's in there?" Silver asked. King Mogar suddenly drifted in front of the door, arms outward in a protective fashion.

**_"Whoa, now, you don't want any part of this, my friend. Let's just say that what this room contains is something that would ruin your day. And everyone else on the planet, for that matter."_ **

"You realize you just made me more curious about the contents of that room, right?"

The ghost sighed. **_"I just realized that. Fine, I'll tell you, but there is no way I'm gonna open this door. You remember the mural showing the dragon upstairs?"_** Silver nodded. **_"Well, that legend is not quite complete. I was never able to destroy it completely, but I was able to contain it and lock it away. That room contains the essence of_ Dralux _, the terrible dragon that almost destroyed Remnant and all its people."_**

Silver quickly backed away from the door. "Yeah, I'll just take your word on that. I'd hate to be known as the person that destroyed a world." then he remembered when he attempted to kill Sonic, twice, due to Mephiles' deceptions. Almost repeating a cycle.

 ** _"Now, this isn't the creature that spawned the Creatures of Grimm that roam Remnant today, but it is the most dangerous. It makes a Deathstalker seem cute and cuddly by comparison,"_** King Mogar lectured. **_"Please do not spread this information, and if you do, tell only those you can trust."_**

"I swear that I will only tell my friends," vowed Silver. "They are some of the most trustworthy people I have ever met, I can assure you."

The ghost nodded in satisfaction. **_"Oh good. Well, now that that's out of the way, let's move on."_**

As they resumed walking, Silver's thoughts inevitably turned to Blaze. _'If I was knocked unconscious just in that doorway, I very likely could have died without telling her how I felt. That's it, when I get out of here, I am going to talk to Blaze and tell her how I feel!'_

**_"Here we are. Behold, the treasury!"_ **

Silver's thoughts snapped back to reality as he looked at the piles of treasure in the room. The room itself was pretty large, about the size of arena in Beacon. However, the contents of said room took Silver's breath away. There were various things made out of gold, as well as precious gems like ruby, emerald, sapphire, and amethyst. On a wall was a sword made entirely out of diamond, which King Mogar proudly explained was the sword he used to defeat _Dralux_.

**_"Now, I believe that this is the gem that you wanted, yes?"_ **

Mogar pointed at a large statue. In one of the hands was the blue _Chaos Emerald_. **_"Now, how the heck are you going to get it down from there?"_** he asked. **_"I would help, but I'm a ghost, so I really just phase through most of everything."_** He floated up to the Emerald and tried to grab it, and sure enough, his hand went right through it.

"Allow me, your majesty." said Silver as his body started glowing a bright green. Mogar looked at the Emerald with alarm as it started to glow the same hue as the Hedgehog. He was even more surprised when it was lifted gently from the statue to Silver's palm.

 ** _"Remarkable,"_ **gaped Mogar in awe. **_"Now, before you go, do you think you could do me a favour?"_**

"Sure, since you didn't kill me when I entered."

**_"On the surface should be a pendant that has three triangles on it. If you could find it and give it to me, I will part with one of my treasures. Except the diamond sword, that stays."_ **

Silver suddenly remembered the pendant he picked up on the surface. He brought it out from behind his quills and showed the dead king.

 ** _"Whoa, that was fast."_** The king quickly snatched the pendant and placed it over his neck.

"Well, I thought it was important when I picked it up. And didn't you just say that you couldn't hold things in the physical world?"

 ** _"Haha, fooled you!"_** Mogar chortled. ** _"Joking aside, I really do thank you for this. Now, what do you want?"_**

Silver thought long and hard about it. He didn't really see anything he wanted, but then he thought of Blaze. "Do you have anything that enhances fire abilities? You see, one of my best friends is pyrokinetic, and I like her more than just a friend."

King Mogar thought about it, then gestured Silver to follow him. He led the Hedgehog to a separate chamber that seemed to contain different weapons and jewelry. He pointed at a necklace that had a flame design with a gold chain.

**_"If I remember correctly, this necklace will dramatically reduce the energy needed to summon and manipulate fire."_ **

Silver smiled. "This'll be perfect for Blaze!"

**_"Now remember, Silver, do not tell anyone the exact location of this place. After all, no one likes an apocalypse."_ **

"Right. In that case, someone had better fix that hole I went down in. Don't trouble yourself, your majesty, I'll get my friends to help." promised the Hedgehog.

 ** _"So, how the heck is that gem gonna help you get to the surface?"_** wondered King Mogar.

"Like this."

Silver closed his eyes and focused on the _Chaos Emerald_ , which started glowing brightly. When the Emerald reached what looked like an apex, Silver shouted, "Chaos Control!" There was a blinding flash, and when the ghost looked around, Silver was nowhere to be found.

 ** _"Oh, that's how."_** Mogar looked around and shrugged. **_"Nice guy, that Silver."_** With that, the ghost disappeared with the lights, leaving the hidden area in darkness once more.


	28. The Ignition

_Mountain ruins, Hunters campsite  
_ _3:30 p.m._

The campsite was pretty silent, despite the echoing sounds of the battle at the ruins. However, the relative tranquility was broken by a blinding flash, followed by Silver landing in a nearby puddle.

"Aw, man," he groaned while looking at his feet. "I just shined these shoes."

Silver looked around and saw the campsite ten feet away. "Hey, that was convenient."

He took out his scroll and called Tails. When the Fox answered, his voice sounded a little distorted. _"Silver? Is that you?"_

"Yeah, it's me, Tails. What's going on?"

The was the sound of an explosion before Tails answered. _"It's total chaos over here! Apparently the earthquake that sealed you in earlier was caused by the Atlesian Knights going haywire! They started attacking anything that moves! Hold on a sec."_

Silver could hear the sound of _Techie Bro's_ arm cannon shooting out its ball bearings, followed by a huge electrical discharge. _"How'd you even get out of there?"_ he asked.

"Long story short, I found the _Chaos Emerald_. Just hold on, I'm coming to help!"

 _"Wait! Before you do, I want you to go into the_ Tornado X _and pull the black switch!"_

Silver was confused. "Won't that turn it on, though? Tails, you know I can't fly a plane! Besides, the camp's not really the best place to take off."

 _"Don't worry, Silver,"_ Tails reassured. _"Once the switch has been thrown, you won't need to do much."_

**_SMASH!_ **

_"Oh, crap, gotta go!"_

As the hedgehog hung up, he ran towards the _Tornado X._ He got into the cockpit, still very apprehensive about the whole thing.

 _'Well, here goes nothing.'_ he thought as he flicked the switch. All of a sudden, a small circular plate appeared from a small slot on the dashboard, as if Silver had just pressed the eject button on a CD player. However, this was no music disc. It turned out to be a small projector that showed Silver the image of a small woman. She had on a vest that showed her midriff and a skirt that went down to her knees. She also had short, dark hair, but it was hard to tell the exact colour, since she was pretty much just different shades of blue. Data lines could be seen trailing up her body.

" _Hello_ ," the hologram said, " _and thank you for activating the M808V Main Battle Tank. You may call me-_ " The woman paused in thought. " _Whoops, wrong script_."

"Yeah, I was about to say, this isn't a tank," said Silver dryly. "Who and what the heck are you?"

" _My name is Aeromi. I'm the A.I. of the_ Tornado X _. Nice to meet yah!_ " she said with a smile. " _Judging by your colouration and quill patterns, I'm guessing you are Silver._ "

"Sorry to be rude, but I really don't have time for introductions," Silver said hurriedly. "Your creator and his friends are currently fighting for their lives, and I need your help to back them up."

" _Tails is in trouble?_ " asked Aeromi, suddenly getting serious. " _Hold tight, Silver._ "

The A.I. flashed green, and suddenly the _Tornado X_ started to transform. However, it wasn't into the alternate jet form. Rather, the end result was a helicopter. It looked like a standard sort, complete with an open area in the middle and two turrets on either side.

" _Welcome to the_ Twister X _,_ " Aeromi announced, grinning. " _This is just one of the many upgrades to the Tornado that Miles put in._ "

"And you're one of them?"

" _Affirmative_ ," she said as she blinked out. " _Now, Silver, please get into the back onto one of the turrets. The activity on my sensors is going haywire, and no offense, but you'd be better off shooting instead of flying._ "

" _Yes ma'am!_ " agreed Silver as he leapt of the cockpit.

As the helicopter roared into life, he had to ask the A.I. something. "Hey, Aeromi, how come Tails didn't tell us about you beforehand?"

" _It was probably because my creator only finished me last night,_ " she said. " _Now, enough chitchat. We've got some people to save._ "

"Roger that."

* * *

At the ruins, the _Atlesian Knights_ were starting to close in around the Mobians. The robots had their guns pointed at them, and it was only thanks to a few of Weiss's glyphs that they weren't killed already.

"Last mag!" announced Shadow as he reloaded _Crimson Dusk_. He was breathing pretty heavily, which was noticed by everyone.

"Okay, if Shadow's tired, then we're pretty screwed, right?" asked Jaune as he blocked a few shots with his shield. Omega had scratches all over his chasis, and he was sparking a bit. Still, he was able to use his flamethrowers to melt a large amount of robots. Unfortunately for all of them, for every Knight they destroyed, two more took its place.

"We must have faith in each other if we are to survive." said Blaze solemnly. She was also tired from channeling a large amount of her fire into arrows. Her thoughts turned to Silver. _'If only we had more time.'_ she thought.

"Blaze is right!" said Tails. "Besides, help should be arriving in three… two…"

On cue, a small blue and red helicopter dropped down into the clearing where the battle was taking place. To everyone's surprise except Tails, a familiar figure was seen in the chopper using a turret to take out a large amount of robots.

"What? SILVER?!" Blaze couldn't believe her eyes. Silver looked at her and flashed her a smile. It was all Blaze could do to keep her face from blushing.

"How is he driving that thing if he's on the turret?" wondered Ruby.

"He isn't! There's no one in the cockpit!" cried Amy.

With the help of the _Twister X_ , everyone made short work of the robots. As the copter landed, Silver jumped out in front of everyone. "Okay, I bet you're wondering how the heck I got here, right?" Before anyone could ask, he held out a hand to stop them. "Before I say anything, I want to do something I should have done a long time ago."

Silver suddenly grabbed Blaze boldly and held her waist as he leaned down with her. Blaze was totally unprepared for this, so she was even more unprepared when he put his lips on the Cat's.

For Blaze, time just stopped. It was such a sensation that left her light headed. For Silver, he just thought that whatever happened, it was totally worth it.

The kiss lasted about twenty seconds before Silver lifted Blaze back up. He suddenly realized what he did, and was about to walk away. However, he was grabbed by Blaze, and she returned the kiss with more passion.

"About time you had the courage to do this." she said when they broke apart.

Silver smiled. "Let's just say being nearly crushed gives you a certain perspective on things. I love you, Blaze the Cat."

"I love you too, Silver the Hedgehog." replied the Cat.

As they hugged, almost everyone smiled at the new couple. Rouge was mostly irritated that she wasn't the one that got them together. Still, it was nice to see that she didn't really need to help those two.

_"Oh, how nice," interrupted a mocking voice from the trees. "It almost pains me to have to break up this happy reunion. Almost."_

Everyone looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice. No one was sure where it was coming from.

"Who and where are you?!" yelled Shadow.

The mysterious voice chuckled. _"I'd be a fool to reveal myself now. Let me assure you, your fight is not over, you inferior organic creatures."_

"SENSORS ARE LOCKED ONTO LOCATION OF SPEAKER," Omega droned. He suddenly faced behind him. "MOTION TRACKER DETECTS LARGE MASS APPROACHING."

The sound of footsteps was heard, as well as breaking trees. "Get ready, everyone, we're not done yet." Sonic said.

The source of the footsteps was soon revealed: a large, hulking robot.

 _"Heheheh… Let's see if you can beat this, Sonic!"_ the voice said from a loudspeaker on the robot. Before the blue Hedgehog could wonder why the voice sounded familiar, it started racing forward. As it ran toward the group, it launched multiple missiles, which everyone just barely dodged.

"Weiss, what the heck is that thing?!" cried Rouge as she was shooting her pistols. They had no visible affect on the robot, of course.

"That's an _Atlesian Paladin_!" shouted the heiress as she blocked a missile with a glyph. "Those are also made from the Atlas military, but they're really just giant suits! There should be someone driving it!"

"Well, then, let's crack open this nut!" said an enthusiastic Knuckles as he dived towards the Paladin. Said robot just backhanded him into a tree. Yang ran to him in concern. "Knuckles! Are you okay?"

"Well, that could have gone better." he said dizzily with spirals in his eyes before he fainted.

The Atlesian Paladin launched more missiles at the group, and Pyrrha was not able to dodge one. Fortunately, she activated her Semblance at the right time and redirected the rocket to return to its sender. However, it didn't really do much to the robot.

"Blaze, here!" Silver yelled as he threw something at Blaze. She saw that it was the pendant Silver had got from King Mogar _(Not that she knew that)_. She put it on, and immediately felt rejuvenated. She used some of the energy for a fiery shockwave, and a few missiles that were headed towards her exploded early due to the intense heat.

 _"You can destroy my missiles all you want, you pathetic lifeforms. You'll never beat me!"_ cackled the voice in the Paladin.

"Aeromi!" cried Tails as he flew towards the _Twister X_. "I think it's time for me to take over!"

No one except Silver knew what he was talking about, but the artificial intelligence opened up the cockpit. When he got in, he punched a green button on the console. The vehicle that Tails built transformed once again, but this time into an armoured suit very similar to the vehicle the Fox used around the time Shadow had been awakened by Eggman. However, this one bristled with more weapons than the previous unit, and it had an additional feature: ARMS.

" _Cyclone X_ now online. Go get 'im, Tails!" cheered the A.I.

This fight just became a lot more interesting.


	29. Paladin's Fall

_Mountain ruins  
_ _3:30 p.m._

_"Hmph. Am I supposed to be intimidated by that creation?_ " scoffed the mysterious voice in the _Atlesian Paladin_ as he looked at the _Cyclone X_.

"Don't be too sure of that," warned Sonic. "Our Tails is better than you give him credit for!"

The mech faced the Hedgehog. _"Oh, I wouldn't celebrate yet. When I'm through with your little friend, I'm coming after you next, Sonic."_

"How do you know me?" Sonic wondered.

The voice chuckled. _"We are more similar than you think."_ The Paladin raced towards the _Cyclone X_.

"Take this!" shouted Tails as he pulled a lever in the cockpit. This action shifted parts on the "chest" of the Cyclone, turning it into a large gun barrel. Actually, make that a cannon.

When Tails pressed a trigger, this caused Aeromi to calmly say, " _Firing main cannon_." This released a huge slug that sailed towards the rogue Paladin. However, the mech just punched it, and Tails was barely able to dodge the reflected bullet.

"I think we're gonna have to maim it!" yelled Ruby.

"Got it!" said Amy as she summoned her _Piko-Piko hammer_. "Nora, I think it's **Hammer Time!** "

"What's 'Hammer Time'?" asked Jaune.

Amy rolled into a ball and started spinning in place rapidly. When she had built up enough potential energy, Nora used _Magnhild's_ hammer mode to launch the Hedgehog at the Paladin. Amy crashed into the right arm, then bounced off, only to have Nora hit her again. This was repeated until the right arm was hanging by a few wires. Amy then smacked the robot with her hammer, toppling it.

Tails rushed forward, turning the Cyclone's arm into a sword. The blade sliced cleanly through the Paladin's arm before it was able to get back up. Said arm fell to the ground, motors twitching as it slowly lost power.

As the Paladin got back up, Ren ran back and forth under the legs, using _Stormflower_ to slice anything that looked delicate. The mech, taking offense to this, attempted to kick the boy away, but he activated his Aura at the right time, and retreated to safety. Omega unleashed a fury of bullets, rockets, and grenades which left the Paladin sparking in a few places.

The Paladin suddenly lurched forward as Yang and a recovered Knuckles got on its back and punched away using _Ember Celia_ and _Clan Blade_. It tried to grab them, but they jumped off right as the _Cyclone X_ shoulder-butted the robot through a few dozen trees.

Rouge sneaked up behind the Atlesian Paladin and jumped on its left leg. She pulled open a hatch cover. "Hey, this looks important!" she said as she pulled out a few wires. A giant arm tried to grab the Bat, but she flew away before it could reach her. The mech suddenly found that the controls for the leg became sluggish.

Jaune and Blake rushed forward. The Paladin attempted to punch them, but they jumped out of the way as Jaune sliced through a few gun barrels on the arm. Blake fired _Gambol Shroud_ at the arm joint, weakening it.

Weiss activated _Myrtenaster's_ fire dust in front of Blaze as the cat turned _Okibi_ into its bow form. When she launched three fire arrows through the glyph, the arrows shot forward, leaving a spectacular flame trail. They hit right between the legs, fusing the hips solid, and most of the males flinched involuntarily. "I know that's a robot suit, but that's got to be very uncomfortable." said Silver as he threw both of _Shume_ in boomerang form. They both hit the arm joint, sending it to the ground.

"Sonic! Shadow!" called Ruby. "Let's make this creep black and blue and red all over!"

The two Hedgehogs spun around in a circle, creating a small tornado around the Atlesian Paladin. Ruby then joined the storm by using both her semblance and _Crescent Rose_. Pretty soon, only dust and rose petals could be seen. When the three speedsters stopped and the dust settled, it revealed the Paladin stripped of any offensive weapons. It was also very scratched up.

"All right, Tails, go for it now!" said Sonic as everyone got out of the way of the _Cyclone X_.

" _Firing main cannon_."

Once again, a huge slug left the chest of the _Cyclone X,_ only this one wasn't deflected by the Paladin. There was a nice, fiery explosion, and the main body of the Paladin could be seen flying off a large distance, landing a few dozen miles away.

"Aeromi, are there any more hostiles?" Tails asked.

The holographic avatar of the A.I. popped up. " _That's a negative, Tails. The only hostile contact within the immediate vicinity is Shadow, but that's within normal behaviours._ "

"That computer had better shut up, or I'll make it quiet- permanently!" growled the black Hedgehog.

" _I rest my case._ " Aeromi said smugly.

Everyone sagged to the ground in exhaustion and relief, basking in the moment of their victory.

"It's a shame that Tails had to get rid of that guy. I wouldn't have minded knowing who he is." said Knuckles.

"You're tellin' me. I want to know how he knows me and why he tried to kill me." said Sonic.

"Well, to be fair, you haven't exactly been discreet about you coming here." said Blake.

"And some of us do want to or have tried to kill you on occasion." said Shadow. Knuckles smirked at the comment, while Silver turned his head in guilt.

Sonic shook his head. "This didn't feel like a rivalry, or extreme annoyance, or even a misguided attempt to save the world. That voice sounded too familiar to be anyone we don't know about, though."

"VOICE PATTERN RECORDED FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS," said Omega. "I SUGGEST WE REGROUP WITH THE OTHER STUDENTS."

"Sounds good to me. I need to tell you guys how I got the _Chaos Emerald_ , anyway." said Silver. He began to tell the others about his journey through the depths of the pyramid, and his encounter with the ghost of King Mogar.

* * *

_Mountain Ruins  
5:00 p.m._

When Glynda was told about the hole in the pyramid, she immediately set out to unblock the entrance using her Semblance. She was accompanied by Silver and Professor Port.

"There's the hole, Miss Goodwitch." said Silver.

"Yes, I see it. Professor Port?"

"Yes, Headmistress?" the aged professor said.

"We will need a few good sized logs to put on top of the hole before the stone is replaced. Can I trust you to do this?" she asked.

"Never fear, Headmistress!" Professor Port proclaimed, holding his _Blunderaxe_ up proudly. "I shall complete this task as quickly as the time when-"

"Silver, can you help him carry the logs?" Glynda asked, disregarding the professor's rant.

"Yes, ma'am!" the Hedgehog responded with a casual salute. As the two left, the ghostly figure of King Mogar ascended from the hole.

 ** _"Good evening, madam,"_** he greeted. **_"I see that Silver is keeping his promise to me."_**

"Indeed. I wasn't sure that he was telling the truth about corresponding with a ghost, and yet here I am in the same position." chuckled Glynda. "As a representative of Beacon Academy, I promise that the secrets of your tomb will be protected." As she finished, she bowed in respect.

 ** _"Oh, knock that off. I know I was a king in life, but I'm dead now. There's no need to bow to a dead king."_** admonished Mogar, though there was no malice in his voice.

Silver finally arrived with the logs, placing them inside the hole just below the rim. Glynda then waved her riding crop, and many stone tiles appeared and covered up the logs, leaving no trace that the hole ever existed.

 ** _"Farewell, fighters of peace,"_ **said Mogar regally. **_"Let us make sure that the evil of Dralux never again sees the light of day, and may we someday meet again- preferably not anytime soon, of course."_**

The king waved goodbye as he descended through the ground back into the tomb, resuming his lonely vigil.

* * *

_Hunters campsite  
_ _6:00 p.m._

Back at the campsite, Tails was telling everyone about Aeromi. Jaune and Pyrrha could be seen holding hands, as well as Silver and Blaze.

"This was actually suggested by Tali," he said. "She said that the _Normandy_ has an A.I. that helps run the ship, and we never saw him. Said he was offline then. Shepard sent me Aeromi to help run the _Tornado X_ since there is so much added to the original design. I wouldn't be able to keep up with it by myself, so she could be a big help!"

" _Plus, I can give Tails someone to talk to other than himself when you guys aren't around!_ " Aeromi said cheerfully.

"Quiet, you."

"Well, I can certainly vouch for her piloting skills," said Silver. "She's almost as good as you."

Yang raised her hand. "Are you stuck with the _Tornado X_ , or can you move into other devices?"

Aeromi suddenly vanished. Before Tails could see what happened, the sound of Yang's scroll going off could be heard. When she picked it up, Aeromi's avatar appeared on the screen.

" _Does that answer your question?_ " she asked.

"That's actually kinda creepy." said Jaune. Pretty much everyone agreed with him on that.

"So, Tails, is there a risk that she could become power-hungry and try to destroy organic life?" asked a worried Weiss.

Aeromi popped back into the _Tornado X_. " _My primary programming to protect all life, and there are restrictions that force me to just keep you all in a small place to 'protect' you from doing harm to yourselves and others. Even if there weren't any blocks… I would probably be making a bad impression on potential friends. I could never harm you. So don't you worry, Miss Schnee._ " she finished with a grin.

"Good. I would hate for Omega to have to give you the same treatment he gives enemy robots." Rouge said, looking the robot as he silently replaced his machine guns with his normal claws.

Silver held out the blue _Chaos Emerald_. "Well, four down, three to go, guys."

"What are the chances that the rest of them will be this easy to get?" wondered Ruby.

Sonic slapped his forehead. "Great. You had to say it."

* * *

_Mountains  
_ _12:45 a.m._

Neo Metal Sonic was drop-dead furious.

This wasn't a new state of mind for him, but he was even more angry than usual as he extricated himself from the Paladin. He used the white _Chaos Emerald_ to assist his repair systems while he blasted a nearby Ursa for getting too close to him. However, the bear was replaced by another. A few minutes after that, a pack of Beowolves appeared, followed by a solitary Goliath.

Pretty soon, Neo Metal Sonic was surrounded by the Creatures of Grimm, attracted to his negative emotions. None approached him again, though, for the dissolving Ursa in front of him was a sign that this entity was not in the brightest of moods.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep in King Mogar's tomb, all was dark and silent. If one listened carefully, however, a faint buzzing could be heard.

The source of this buzzing was coming from the smallest helicopter ever made. It was about the size of a housefly, but it wasn't crewed by a couple of fleas. This copter was carrying the latest in detection software and listening devices. It had picked up the largest energy signature in the local area, and was investigating.

After a while, it stopped, hovering in front of the door that led to Dralux's prison. It sent out a signal that had an embedded message, informing its creator about what it found. It then exited the tomb through the small hole it entered.

In the light of the shattered moon, a strange symbol could be seen on the rotor. This symbol was the most recognized on Mobius: a black circle with a blank place for eyes and a large mustache.


	30. Departure and Schemes

_Mountain campsite  
_ _7:30 a.m._

Considering the chaos of the previous day, the morning was pleasantly uneventful. Everyone was treated to a very nice pancake breakfast, courtesy of Ren. Fortunately, although Nora swiped a bottle of syrup from the supplies, there was still plenty for everyone.

"Ren, these are great pancakes." Sonic complimented while sitting up in his hammock.

"Thank you, Sonic." the pink-eyed boy replied.

Weiss walked up to Rouge. "Sorry that your scheme to get Silver and Blaze together didn't work out." the heiress whispered.

Rouge just shrugged. "Well, at least I can still take credit for Jaune and Pyrrha."

Weiss giggled. "That's true."

There was a sudden whooshing noise as Doctor Oobleck appeared. "Good morning, huntsmen, huntresses, and Mobians. Pack up your gear quickly, as the lack of robots protecting this place may be problematic to our departure."

"Well, it was either that, or be killed by them." said Shadow.

"This is true. However, we are leaving in one hour. Any longer, and the Creatures of Grimm may sense something is amiss, and will investigate."

Sonic and Shadow smirked at each other. Shadow pulled out his favourite green _Chaos Emerald._

"I really don't see how pulling out that gem will help you pack faster." said Oobleck.

"Just watch this." Shadow held up the Emerald and yelled, "Chaos Control!"

"What kind of nonsense is-" The students of Beacon suddenly had a rare opportunity to observe Oobleck standing still as time stopped around them.

"What's going on?" asked Jaune.

"I used the powers of my _Chaos Control_ to stop time temporarily." Shadow pulled out a special looking clock and set a countdown from thirty minutes. "I gave us a half-hour to pack. When the Chaos Control dissipates, barely a second will actually have passed."

"This is so cool." said Ruby as she poked a drop of water that was suspended in midair. She then stood up and rushed to her team's tent, rose petals flying. Everyone else followed her lead, and they managed to pack everything up in twenty-five "Chaos Control" minutes.

"Okay, resuming normal time flow in three… two… one!"

Shadow snapped his fingers, and the flow of time returned to normal. Doctor Oobleck continued his speech as if nothing had happened.

"-this, saying a few words while holding… a… gem…" The professor slowed down his speech as he saw the packed bags. "What?"

"Never underestimate my power." said Shadow as he put the _Chaos Emerald_ away.

Suddenly, a shrill shriek could be heard. Oobleck rushed towards the source while Jaune started laughing so hard he had to lean on Pyrrha.

"What's so funny, Jaune?" asked Pyrrha as she supported her boyfriend.

"Oh, when time was stopped, I put a few lizards in Team CRDL's tent," Silver said innocently. "It was Jaune's idea, he supplied the lizards."

While everyone had a laugh, Jaune and Silver high-fived each other.

Pretty soon, everyone else had their supplies packed up, and went aboard the airship. Tails drove the _Tornado X_ in car mode onto a separate runway, and Sonic hopped on the wing.

"Aeromi, any signs of Nevermores on our way?" asked Tails.

The A.I.'s avatar popped up. " _That's a negative, Tails. The only Creatures of Grimm I predict to see are only ground-based, and the largest Nevermores I can detect aren't large enough to bother us, let alone the ship carrying everyone else._ "

"Good to know. Thanks, Aeromi!"

" _You're welcome, sir!_ " she replied with a playful salute. " _All systems are green, we are ready to depart._ "

Aboard the airship, Glynda was standing on the bridge. "Everyone is aboard and ready, ma'am," said a crewmember.

Glynda nodded, and the airship took off, followed by the _Tornado X_.

"So Aeromi, how much do you know about us?" Sonic asked the A.I.

" _Tails downloaded all the information he could about his adventures with you and the others, and might I say that it's a real privilege to be working with you all. I know that Silver and Blaze are from the future/dimension, Shadow has the blood of an ex-alien overlord in his veins, et cetera. I pretty much have knowledge about your adventures up to the incident with something called, 'The_ Time Eater _.' I'm surprised that having a younger you around didn't faze you- though from what Tails has said, you pretty much just take everything in stride._ "

"You got it!" confirmed Sonic with his signature thumbs up.

" _I have also downloaded personality profiles of your friends and comrades from Beacon Academy. It must be pretty interesting fighting with humans_."

"Yeah, it is different, I'll give you that much. But Ruby and the others are pretty cool people. Even though Eggman sent us here because of a _Chaos Control_ going lopsided, I'm glad we were sent here. I never thought I would meet someone like Ruby who has the same outlook on life as mine- and she's very fast, too!"

Unbeknownst to the duo, Aeromi had set up a link between the _Tornado X_ and Ruby's scroll. Team RWBY had been listening to the conversation, and the red head smiled when she heard what Sonic said.

"I tell you, that Ruby is something special," said Sonic. "She even got grumpy Shadow to be a little nicer- though he probably won't be an extrovert like yours truly anytime soon."

"Or ever." Tails piped up.

"Now that I think about it, all of us Mobians have made special friends with the locals of Remnant. Heck, even Omega has made friends with someone!"

Aeromi giggled. " _Yes, I did see a mention of that Penny girl. I wonder how she was built, being able to have a soul._ "

Tails tilted his head in thought. "I hate to change the subject, but I wonder what Eggman is doing right now?"

" _Probably scheming and conniving. Or maybe a combination: schenniving._ "

Sonic looked at the A.I's holographic avatar. "Well, whatever he's doing, I hope he's annoying Torchwick."

* * *

_Egg Ark  
_ _12:35 p.m._

Eggman was seen typing furiously on a computer while Cinder, Emerald, Roman, and Mercury were watching.

...

Check that- Cinder, Emerald, and Roman were watching, while Mercury was sitting on a nearby couch, reading a comic book.

"Psst, Mercury!" whispered Emerald. "Get up here, we're back in the story!"

"And just when I was getting to the good part," he grumbled as he put away the issue of _"X-Ray and Vav"_ that he was reading.

Roman rolled his eyes. "While I do enjoy the interactions between the two kiddies, can you please tell us why you brought all of us out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Eggman turned his seat around and faced the four criminal masterminds. A manic gleam could be seen through his sunglasses. "Last night, one of my drones discovered the largest concentration of darkness I've ever seen." He pointed at a screenshot of a large monster. "This is bigger than even _Dark Gaia_ , and much more powerful!"

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, Doctor." said Cinder.

Eggman turned back to his computer and pushed a button. The holographic screen changed from _Dark Gaia_ to what could only be described as a dragon Creature of Grimm.

"What in the wahde world of sports is that?!" Cubot asked in shock. "That feller's bigger than Eggman after a night on the buffet!"

"Can I destroy him?" asked Mercury.

Eggman glanced at Cubot and considered the request. "You can hurt him. Destroy him later."

"Huh, that actually sounds more fun."

Roman walked forward in awe. "I have never seen a Creature of Grimm like this before."

"According to the information I have gathered," Eggman said, "This dragon was known as _Dralux_. It was the most feared Grimm ever to walk this planet, and it was only through the brave efforts of a warrior Faunus named Mogar that Dralux was defeated."

Eggman smiled evilly. "However, it turns out that Mogar wasn't able to completely destroy it, because my drone discovered Dralux's essence in a locked door. With the right methods, I may be able to harvest the energy of this beast, and conquer this world!"

At that moment, Orbot rolled up. "Pardon me, Doctor, but what makes you think that you can control the beast?"

Eggman, annoyed at the interruption his trademark cackling, glared at the red robot. "Well, why not?"

"Well, your track record in controlling powerful beasts hasn't been the best, to put it mildly. _Chaos_ didn't follow your commands after you gave him the _Chaos Emeralds_ , Shadow ended up a hero-"

"Yes, yes, we get it," grumbled Eggman.

Orbot continued, heedless of his master's request. "- _Solaris_ was a complete disaster, _Dark Gaia_ never listened to you after he was complete, the Wisp energy became out of control-"

Eggman was fed up with the robot. "Shut up, you waste of electricity! Besides, I was able to control the _Time Eater_ , wasn't I?"

"Yeah, but yah were beatin' bah TWO Sonics, boss-man." commented Cubot, now sporting a small dent on his head.

"You haven't answered the question, Doctor," said Cinder, silently amused at the mad doctor. "What makes you think that you can control THIS monster?" She gestured at the hologram of Dralux.

Eggman composed himself. "Using the power of both my genius and special Dust combinations, I can create something to slowly siphon the energy of Dralux into a special container that will power the ultimate _Dark Badnik_! After all, it's just the bare essence of Dralux, and not the real dragon trapped in that tomb."

"Right. So why haven't you done this already?" asked Emerald.

"Young lady, I only found out last night. Besides, I will need some assistance in gaining access to the tomb. Might I suggest that group you have ties with, the White Fang?"

Roman whirled around. "Absolutely not! They're far too busy doing work for me, and-"

"You will receive the personnel that you require," interrupted Cinder calmly. She held up a hand and lit a flame. "But don't even think about going back on our deal, Doctor."

Eggman gulped. "Yes, Ma'am."

"And as for you, Roman, do not think of those Faunus' as your private army. Remember that you have employed their services for MY ends, and not your own." Cinder looked at Roman with a dangerous gleam in her eye. "Is that clear?"

Roman gulped in the same way Eggman did. "Perfectly clear."

* * *

Out of earshot of Eggman, Roman Torchwick pulled out his scroll. "Neo, I want you send some of the White Fang to this location. Accompany them as well. We have something to retrieve for the mad doctor, and I want to make sure you add a little something for a contingency plan."

The connection was cut but was followed by a message from Neo that read: _"Yes sir."_


	31. Fiery Lady

_Beacon Academy  
_ _4:30 p.m._

"Man, I am beat!" said Yang as they finally arrived back in front of Team RWBY's dorm. The gang had finished getting their gear from the airship, and were looking forward to taking it easy for the rest of the day.

"I wonder how Penny and Sun are doing." said Blaze.

"Well, let's call them after we unpack." said Ruby as she opened the door.

It turns out they didn't need to worry about Sun Wukong, because he was sitting on Yang's bunk, reading a comic book. "Hey guys, how was the trip?"

"Oh, it was nice. We saw the sights, found the _Chaos Emerald_ , fought a bunch of robots, and Silver and Blaze got together." summarised Sonic.

"Neat. Hey, I have to introduce someone to you." Sun walked up to the window and reached for something out of sight. He pulled in a very tall person with gray pants, a red jacket, blue hair, and yellow goggles on his forehead.

"Sup?" he said nonchalantly, as if hanging outside the window was a common occurrence.

"Sun, who is this?" asked Blake, eyeing the stranger.

"This is my friend, _Neptune Vasilias_. Neptune, these are the people I told you about." Sun introduced Team RWBY and the Mobians to him.

"Nice to meet you all."

"Why were you outside our window?" asked Weiss.

"I have my ways." Neptune responded with a wink. This caught the heiress off-guard, and she blushed furiously.

"Hey, look," said Tails. "Yang, Ruby, you got a package." The Fox pointed at a small box on the desk.

"Oo, something from home!" squealed Ruby as she rushed to the desk, rose petals flying. She grabbed Knuckles, activated his _Clan Blade_ , and used it to slice the box open, leaving the Echidna very confused and with a sore arm.

Ruby pulled out what looked like a gray towel. However, that notion was dispelled when it quivered a few times, then gained the shape of a medium sized dog. It woofed happily upon seeing Ruby.

"AAAHHH!" Ruby yelled with joy. "ZWEI!"

Omega eyed the box, which was about half the size of the dog. "CANINE WAS SENT IN THE MAIL VIA SMALL BOX? CANNOT COMPUTE, DOES NOT SEEM PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE!" he droned, making a few computer noises before collapsing.

Tails pulled out a cord from his Miles Electric and connected it to a port on the robot. "Don't worry, guys. Omega's currently unconscious, or at least the robotic equivalent. He'll come around in a couple of minutes."

"I have to agree with robot, that doesn't seem physically possible at all." commented Blaze, who was standing on top of the bookshelf, eyeing the dog with something like fear.

"The dog fitting in a small space, or a fainting robot?" asked Blake from her vantage point on Ruby's bunk with a similar expression.

"Yes..." the fire princess responded.

Ruby put Zwei down and let the dog get acquainted with everyone in the room. Sonic bent down and petted him. "So why was the dog in a box?" he asked.

Yang picked up a letter in the box. "It looks like our dad had to go away on a trip to Vacuo, so he sent Zwei over so we could take care of him."

"Your _dad_ sends pets in boxes?" asked Shadow with a raised eyebrow.

Zwei walked up to Omega, sniffing the robot as he started booting back up. Rouge carefully directed the dog away from Omega, fearful of what Zwei might do, and how the robot might react.

"SYSTEMS FULLY FUNCTIONAL. CAUSE OF SHUTDOWN: UNKNOWN."

"Let's just say you thought about something a little too hard," said Sun. "Well, you guys wanna hang out?"

"Sure, let's go!" answered Sonic. Zwei yipped in agreement. They asked Team JNPR to come along, but they opted out, saying that Jaune needed time to recover from the flight home. Apparently he forgot to take his ginger pills, and he still had a bad case of motion sickness, judging by the vomiting noises from the bathroom.

* * *

_Streets of Vale  
_ _6:30 p.m._

The gang, with the addition of Neptune and Sun, had a great time walking along the streets of Vale. Shadow was unsurprisingly able to find a gun store, so he restocked everyone's ammunition. Yang and Ruby found a pet store and got some food for Zwei. The dog in question was happily following them, being his cute self.

"So, where should we eat?" asked Amy.

"I hope you don't mind _Yarrgarita's._ " said Sun. "They have a special on steak dinner tonight."

"Do they allow animals?" asked Neptune, who was eyeing Zwei.

"Ah, don't worry about it," reassured Sonic. "We've been there before, and they let us Mobians in. So why not let in Zwei?" The dog barked in agreement.

The gang walked to the nightclub, and were admitted by the doorman. They sat at a large table and relaxed a bit, enjoying the music and the conversation.

Rouge, however, was still a little annoyed that she didn't get Silver and Blaze together. But she did got an idea and sent a text message to Sonic.

_Rouge: "Sonic, since Blaze and Silver are now a couple, I think that a C40-09 is appropriate for this. Get up on stage when you're ready!"_

The blue Hedgehog smiled and nodded at the white Bat.

Dinner was indeed steak, and everyone enjoyed it in their own way. For some reason, Omega also got steak, but since he was physically incapable of eating anything, he cut his steak with his claws and kindly gave the slices to Zwei, with Ruby and Yang smiling at the walking arsenals offerings.

Sun was telling everyone about what Tali was doing. "Apparently, she's infiltrated the White Fang."

"Why would she do that?" asked Knuckles. "Isn't she marrying a human?"

The monkey Faunus nodded. "Yeah, but they don't know that. So, considering the crazy things you guys get into, there is a chance you may have to fight Tali. She isn't looking forward to that encounter any more than you, but she told me to tell you not to hold back. She doesn't want to blow her cover, after all."

" _Let's hope it won't come to that,_ " said a voice from the table, which had holographic decorations on it. Those decorations flashed a few times before Aeromi's avatar blinked into existence. " _Sup, guys?_ "

"Um, who's the blue lady?" asked Neptune.

"That's one of Tali's gifts before she left," said Tails. "This is Aeromi, the A.I. of the _Tornado X_. Although I kinda wish you would give us more warning before you jump appliances."

" _My bad._ "

"Aeromi, just out of curiosity, 'where' are you specifically?" asked Sun. "I know I helped install you in the _Tornado X,_ but I don't remember you being able to do that."

" _My core programs are in the Tornado X, but Tails thought it might be good if I was able to be anywhere. He was concerned that in the unlikely event of the_ Tornado X _crashing or-_ " Aeromi suppressed a shudder- " _being destroyed by enemy fire, I would be damaged, or even completely wiped out. To counteract this possibility, he thought that I should have the ability to move myself from various devices, so there would be less risk to me._ "

"Hey, where did Sonic go?" interrupted Amy. Everyone looked around, and not only was the blue Hedgehog gone, they noticed that Team RWBY was also gone.

Zwei barked in the direction of the stage, and they saw their missing friends. Sonic and Ruby were setting up electric guitars, Weiss a microphone, Blake a bass guitar, and Yang a drum kit.

"What are they doing?" wondered Silver. His thoughts were interrupted as Rouge dragged him and Blaze onto the dance floor.

"Have fun, you two." Rouge said with a wink.

Ruby started out with a slow guitar riff, then Yang joined with the drums. Then, Sonic joined in with a sweet guitar solo as he started singing.

_Crush 40- Fire Woman_

**Sonic: Shake, shake, shake,**

**Shake it, yeah!**

Silver and Blaze didn't really know how to react to this, but they looked at each other, shrugged, and started to dance to the song.

**Wound up, can't sleep**

**Can't do anything right, little honey,**

**Since I set my eyes on you.**

**I'll tell you the truth.**

At this point, Weiss joined Sonic, finally getting her wish to sing. Aeromi, wanting to get in on the action, modified the holographic decorations on the tables in the club to display flames, which would say later was a nice touch.

**Weiss and Sonic: T-t-twisting like a flame**

**In a slow dance baby,**

**You're drivin' me crazy,**

**Come on, little honey,**

**Come on down!**

**Fire, smoke, she is a-rising!**

**Fire!**

**Oh, smoke on the horizon, well**

**Fire, smoke, she is a-rising!**

**Fire!**

**Oh, smokestack lightning,**

**Smokestack lightning.**

Sonic did another short guitar solo, then yelled, "Sing it, Ice Queen!"

**Weiss: Shake it up, you're to blame,**

**Got me sweatin', little honey,**

**My heart's a ball of burnin' flame.**

**Oh, yes it is, uh!**

On the dance floor, Silver and Blaze were drawing a crowd. They cheered the new couple on, but the two from the parallel realities were lost in the music and each other's eyes.

**Sonic and Weiss: Tracin' like a cat on a hot tin shack,**

**Lord! Have mercy,**

**Come on, little sister,**

**Come one and shake it!**

**Fire, smoke, she is a-rising!**

**Fire!**

**Oh, smoke on the horizon, yeah!**

**Fire, smoke she is a-rising!**

**Fire!**

**Oh, smokestack lightnin', baby!**

Ruby went into another solo here, drawing cheers from the Mobians, Sun and Neptune, and a few barks from Zwei. The impromptu band suddenly quieted things down.

**Sonic: I was thinkin',**

**Weiss: What I've been missin',**

**Sonic and Weiss: I'll tell you truthfully, well.**

Silver and Blaze separated briefly as the pyrokinetic Cat summoned flames around her. Silver used his powers to levitate her. Slowly, he brought Blaze closer.

**She's comin' close now,**

**Oh, I can feel her,**

**She's getting close to me,**

**YEAH!**

Blaze and Silver kissed as the Blue Blur went into yet another guitar solo at this point in the song, freeing one hand to high-five Weiss as they resumed singing.

**Sonc and Weiss: Fire, smoke, she is a-risin,**

**Fire!**

**Yeah, smoke on the horizon, yeah!**

**Fire, smoke, she is a-risin-risin,**

**Fire!**

**Oh, smokestack lightnin'.**

**Yeah!**

**Burn it out, shake it baby,**

**Gotta have money,**

**Stand down in front of me,**

**Say, stand down in front me,**

**Say stand down in front of me, yeah.**

**Fire woman,**

**You're to blame,**

**Fire woman, you're to blame,**

**Stand down in front of me,**

**Say, stand down in front of me,**

**Stand down, stand down,**

**Fire woman!**

As the song winded down, Blaze and Silver kissed again, bringing more cheers. The Corpirate, who was watching from a distance, smiled at the scene.

Weiss looked at Sonic. "Thanks for letting me sing something for once."

"I had a feeling you were feeling left out after not singing twice." the Hedgehog responded.

Zwei walked up to Ruby. She lifted the dog in her arms. "Come on, let's go home, guys."

As the gang left the club, Blaze and Silver were holding hands, feeling like nothing could disturb them from their peace. That would change as they adjusted back into their daily routine, but for now, they just enjoyed the moment.

Elsewhere in the club, Emerald looked at Rouge, barely restraining her fury at the Bat. _'Our time will come, Rouge the Bat,'_ she thought. _'And when it does, only one of us will be walking away, alive.'_


	32. Complications of Communications

_Beacon Academy  
_ _10:00 a.m._

For Team RWBY and the other students of Beacon, it was just another day of classes. At the current time, all four girls (and most of the classroom, for that matter) were trying to stay awake through Professor Port's lecture. Scratch that, it wasn't so much a lecture as it was telling stories of his past endeavours that were most likely false.

"Considering that the Creatures of Grimm dissolve after being killed, it's probably not likely that he did these things." murmured Blake. Ruby, Yang, and even Weiss silently agreed. Of all the classes with the boisterous professor, the only proof they had seen of the his accomplishments was when Weiss fought the Boarbatusk on their first day.

"The way he speaks, if they didn't dissolve, this room would be filled with mounted heads." whispered Jaune.

Just when it seemed that the professor was reaching a crescendo in the story, everyone's scrolls went off at once. Confused, the students pulled them out, only to reveal a chilling message in red letters:

_**You will never stop us from achieving our goals. How can you stop us if you can't communicate?** _

The students frantically tried to get out of the screen, but to no avail. "What's going on?" demanded Professor Port.

The intercom beeped, and a school-wide announcement was heard. _"Students, please go back to your dorms."_

As everyone walked out, Yang couldn't help but feel anxious. "How did this happen, and why are everyone's scroll like this?"

The rest of the team didn't have any answers.

At the dorms, everyone got changed back into their usual clothes. Zwei could sense his mistress' uneasiness, and padded over to Ruby. She forced a smile as she petted him.

"You know what really stinks is that we can't tell Sonic about this. He doesn't know, and I think Tails might be able to help out." said Weiss.

Suddenly, Ruby's scroll started beeping. She got it out and expanded it, and the screen's message cleared up, revealing Aeromi. " _Whew, that took longer than I thought it would. Hope you don't mind me butting in._ "

"Well, I'm just glad you're not affected by this communications blackout," said Ruby. Zwei yipped in agreement. "So what's up?"

" _Since I seem to be the only entity not restrained by this phenomenon, I volunteered to send messages for the time being. Speaking up which, Ozpin needs you in his office, Ruby. A.S.A.P. Unfortunately, he didn't say to bring the rest of your team_."

"Will you be okay?" asked Yang.

"I'm sure it's nothing."

" _Well, it's definitely not nothing,_ " said Aeromi. " _I think Ozpin can explain things better._ "

Ruby ran to the elevator that led to Professor Ozpin's office. When she got there, she was joined by Sonic.

"Ruby, do you have any idea what's going on?" the blue Hedgehog asked as the elevator ascended.

"I don't know. Did Glynda ask for you via Aeromi?"

"That's right. Hopefully, there'll be an explanation from Ozzy."

When the door to Professor Ozpin's office opened, they were greeted by the sight of-

"Captain Shepard?" they said simultaneously.

The captain of the _Normandy_ waved a hand in greeting. "Hello, Ruby, Sonic. I wish that we could have met again under normal circumstances."

The three walked up to Professor Ozpin. "Greetings. I hope you noticed the strange message found on everyone's scrolls?"

"Kinda hard not to."

Ozpin faced Sonic. "I might as well be blunt with you, then: someone has hacked into the main communications tower of Vale. This has caused a fair bit of panic, both here and in town. All communications have been completely blocked, and we can't figure out who did it. What's more, we don't know how to fix this problem.

"However, thanks to a timely visit from Captain Shepard, he thinks he's found a way to restore it all."

"How?" asked Sonic.

Shepard shifted his weight to his fake leg. "We send a couple of people into the mainframe of Vale."

Ruby adopted a confused look. "Um, the what?"

"Alright, cyberspace."

Sonic whistled. "Cyberspace, huh? That ought to be interesting."

"We're going inside a computer?" asked Ruby in awe.

"Not just a computer, Miss Rose. The computer system of Vale itself." Ozpin looked sternly at Ruby and Sonic. "We need those communications back up, and quickly. The mission must be done swiftly, so that's where you come in."

"Well, if that's the case, we might want to bring Shadow into this, too. He's had more experience with being in computer systems than I have. It's a long story that I might tell you later. But how are we going to do it?" the Blue Blur asked. Aeromi vanished to retrieve Shadow.

"Simple. We shoot a laser that compresses your bodies into digital data, and we send you to the areas with the problems." said Shepard.

"Wait, WHAT!?" they both shouted out.

Ozpin also looked concerned at this approach. "Captain, are you sure that's the only way for them to get into the digital realm?"

Shepard just grinned. "Oh, it'll be fine. My crew and I have done it plenty of times, it's perfectly safe."

Aeromi projected herself on Ozpin's desk. " _While that assessment isn't entirely accurate, the crew of the_ Normandy _have indeed gone into the digital space many times. Usually, this has been to make some minor adjustments on the electronic systems, get rid of bugs, and even create artificial intelligences like myself._ "

There was a flash of light as Shadow teleported into the room. Sonic quickly summarised what was to happen.

"Alright. Here's my question: who's going to guide us to the problem areas? Last I checked, cyberspace is pretty huge." said the Ultimate Life Form.

"We'll have Aeromi and the A.I. of the _Normandy_ to assist you." answered Shepard.

"Okay, so when do we leave?" asked Sonic, throwing a few practice punches. "I haven't had a good viral beatdown since the last time I got a cold."

Shepard's lips twitched in a brief smile. "We leave in an hour. Meet me at the computer room. I should have everything set up by then."

"Thank Chaos Vector isn't here." whispered Shadow to himself, heavily remembering how many times the Crocodile of the Chaotix repeating: _"Find the Computer Room!"_

When Ruby told her team about the plan, they were astounded.

"Cyberspace… That's simply incredible." said Yang.

"Yeah, you said it. We should be fine, though. I'm gonna be with Sonic and Shadow, and we should fix this thing in no time!" said Ruby.

"I hope so. Who knows what kind of chaos is happening in the world right now." said a worried Blake.

"I'll say. Who knows what my company is going through."

"Way to prioritise, Weiss," sighed a sweatdropping Ruby.

After a quick lunch, Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby met at Beacon's computer core room. The room itself was pretty big, and housed many large computers and servers.

Shepard had finished setting up the laser with the business end pointing at a wall. It was pretty large, and had all sorts of wires trailing from it to a monitor. Aeromi's avatar was seen next to the monitor, as well as another hologram. This one was slightly taller than Aeromi, and its avatar was wearing some kind of futuristic armor suit with the number 117 on the chestplate. Furthermore, it was a dark green.

Shepard noticed the girl and the two Hedgehogs. "Ah, you're here. I'd like you to meet the A.I. of the _Normandy_ , _Chief_."

The figure's helmet nodded in acknowledgement. "Is he always this talkative?" asked Ruby.

"He's just the strong, silent type." explained Aeromi.

" _I just didn't feel like there was anything to say._ " Chief's voice was deep and military-like.

"He was the A.I. developed by Atlas to help out with the _Normandy_ ," said Shepard. "Despite his gruff outlook, he really is a big help with running the ship. When we put together Aeromi for the _Tornado X_ , though, Tali thought it might be a good idea to make her more… user friendly than Chief."

" _And just more friendly in general!_ " chirped Aeromi cheerfully.

Chief rolled his eyes, but nobody saw that under his helmet, of course.

"I gotta agree with Tali on that one. I don't think I could handle another guy with a personality like Shadow's." said Sonic.

"You know I'm standing next to you, right?" growled the black Hedgehog.

"Right where I know where you are, so you can't sneak up on me." replied Sonic without missing a beat. Ruby snickered at the Hedgehogs antics.

There was the sound of the door opening as Tails entered. "I've given Aeromi and Chief the locations of the problem areas. I've also written a few programs that might help you get there."

" _What kind of programs?_ " asked Chief.

"Transportation and combat functions."

" _Sweet! Thank you, boy genius!_ " gushed Aeromi. Tails scratched his head in an "aw, shucks" gesture while blushing.

"Have you all been stocked up on ammunition?" Shepard asked. "The viruses will be hostile, and when we digitise you, you will have to use your weapons."

Shadow brought out _Crimson Dusk_ and pulled the bolt back, putting it back when he saw that he had plenty of bullets. Ruby did the same with _Crescent Rose_.

"I think we're ready, Cap'n." said Sonic.

"Wait a minute. Just out of curiosity, will there be any side effects from this?" wondered Ruby.

Chief shook his head. " _Based on the many times the crew of the_ Normandy _have had to be digitised to fix a bug, my analysis concludes that the worst you'll get are a few headaches. Nothing life-threatening, nothing permanent._ "

"However, the rules of the real world will apply there," warned Shadow, who had experience of traveling cyberspace on Mobius during the _Black Arms invasion_. "If you die there, you'll die for real. So, don't die."

"Thanks for the helpful advice, Shadow," said Sonic sarcastically as he looks at the crimsonette, with fear in her eyes. "We'll be fine, Ruby. You've got me and Mr. Unsmiley over there, plus the support of Aeromi and Chief."

Ruby smiled. "Right. Thanks, Sonic. Okay, Shep, we're good to go."

Shepard nodded. "Good. Please step in front of the laser." The three did so. "Okay, it's powering up… Now stand still and close your eyes… Firing in three… two… one!"

The laser fired a blue beam, and the speedy trio disappeared. A light followed the trail of wires, and a green light appeared on the laser readout.

"All right they're in! Chief, Aeromi, you know what to do."

The two artificial intelligences nodded and disappeared.

"Good luck, guys." whispered Tails.


	33. Digital Realm of Remnant

_Digital Realm  
_ _1:00 p.m._

When the speedy trio had closed their eyes, they were in Beacon's computer core room. They felt a jolt, and when they opened them, they found themselves in a very different place. They were transported to the outskirts of what appeared to be a bustling city. However, it was lit up with all kinds of white lights, and the sky was black and starless.

Sonic whistled, impressed by the futuristic aura it gave off. "Wow. That looks fantastic."

"It's certainty less of an eye-sore when compared to our own digital reality." the Ultimate Life Form stated as he remembers travelling through Eggman's and the United Federation's mainframes during the _Black Arms invasion_.

" _You think that looks cool, you should look at yourselves._ "

The three turned around and saw Aeromi and Chief. However, the two weren't small holograms, they were human sized. "Whoa. What did you guys eat to get so big?" asked Ruby.

" _In this realm, all Programs are about the same size, depending on the User and Avatar._ " said Chief, explaining the growth spurt. He was the tallest of them now, even taller than Neptune. He knelt down and put a glove on the paved ground. A thin section rose up and became a mirror, and the trio finally saw themselves.

Sonic and Shadow were both wearing bodysuits that had lights trailing from their legs up to their arms, and while Sonic's lights were blue, Shadows were red. Their shoes were unchanged, which Sonic was thankful for.

Ruby's digital attire didn't change much physically, but there were lights all along her skirt, right down to her boots. Her hood had many lights on it, and it was a pretty good look, overall.

One thing that all three suits had in common was a disc on the back. They were all about the same size, but had different emblems in holographic form in a hole in the middle. Sonic's disc had his buzzsaw emblem, Shadow his _Black Arms_ insignia, and Ruby had her flaming rose pattern on hers.

" _Whoa. Didn't expect the symbols on the I.D. discs. You think that'll be a problem, Chief?_ " Aeromi asked. She and Chief also had discs on their backs, but they had no distinguishing features

The armoured figure shook his head. " _I doubt it. I think any other Programs may be more concerned with the fact that two of them are Hedgehogs. I have to admit, it is a nice touch, though."_

"Is there anything else these suits have?" asked Shadow with a grin of satisfactory on his face.

Aeromi took Sonic's right wrist and and gently pushed a section. A holographic wrist computer appeared. " _This is your_ S-tool _. It has everything you'll need while you're here, and a few extra functions. But the ones you'll need are the radio-_ " she pointed at the top right of the screen, then the bottom right part that looked like a radar screen- " _and the map._ "

Sonic nodded. "Got it. And not to change the subject or anything, but it's really weird being able to, well, 'feel' you."

Aeromi grinned. " _Hopefully you'll get used to it._ "

"So, how are we gonna get around? Sonic and Shadow can run, but I can't use my Semblance for an extended period of time without becoming exhausted." said Ruby.

Chief reached into his belt and pulled two identical rods with buttons on them. He gave one to Aeromi. " _These are transportation software programs that Tails made us. It's a normal form of moving around in this realm, but the Fox made some modifications to the code._ "

Shadow looked at the rod in Chief's hand dubiously. "How is that thing supposed to help us?"

In response, Chief ran away from the trio and leaped. While in midair, he pushed a button on the rod, which split. The sections suddenly extended, and before anyone could comment on it, they assembled themselves into a black motorcycle with lit up wheels and chassis. Chief circled the gang in his new ride before stopping. It was an understatement to say that the trio was awestruck.

"I don't think I've seen anything like that." gaped Shadow.

Aeromi repeated the action and did a wheelie, stopping in front of Ruby. " _Hop on, Red. We've got some viruses to kill_."

"Shouldn't we have helmets or something?" asked the redhead as she sat behind the A.I.

" _Don't worry Ruby. After all, safety third!_ "

As soon as Ruby sat down, a helmet built itself around her head. While the inexplicably appearing helmet was jarring, it was actually quite comfortable, and it even had Ruby's emblem on it. Aeromi's head also had a helmet that appeared, but it was featureless.

"You ever been on a motorcycle before?" Sonic asked Ruby.

Her helmet faced Sonic as she answered. "Yup. My sister has a motorcycle named _Bumblebee_ that she rides around in. Yang lets me ride sometimes, so it's not my first time."

" _Come on,_ " said Chief impatiently. " _The longer we waste time here means a longer period of complete confusion and chaos in Vale._ "

Aeromi revved the engines. " _Then let's go!_ "

The gang left the relative safety of the outskirts and sped towards the center of the city. Chief's motorcycle was in front, with Aeromi and Ruby behind him. Sonic and Shadow kept pace behind them, taking in the sights of the data highway they were on. They saw many other humanoids walking the streets or driving _lightcycles_ like they were, but Chief explained over the radio that those individuals were ordinary Programs.

"Some of them seem to be running from something." Sonic observed. Sure enough, a few programs were running away from a dark section of the city. A female program was seen racing towards them, but a gunshot was heard, and she collapsed with a surprised expression on her face as she started to dissolve. The entity that caused this was-

"Oh, no. It's a _Dark Pawn_!" Ruby cried out.

" _Better correct that to Dark Pawns, Ruby,_ " said Aeromi. " _He isn't alone._ "

Many of the Eggman-inspired robots were seen creating havoc and destroying the area. Programs were being cut down left and right, and it seemed that most of them were in a shootout with a group of ten Programs that had the armour configuration of soldiers or police officers.

Chief revved the engines of his lightcycle and accelerated rapidly toward the fight, with the others right behind him. He pressed a button on the handlebars. This caused two gun barrels to assemble on the sides, and when Chief pressed a trigger, bullets flew towards the Dark Pawns that had pinned down the security programs, destroying them. Aeromi copied his actions while Sonic and Shadow revealed their weapons, with Ruby using _Crescent Rose_ to eject herself into the fray.

It seemed that the trio's attire wasn't the only thing that changed when they entered cyberspace. The edges of _Cobalt Shard_ were lit up with blue lights. Sonic actually liked that look, especially when he saw that it was purely a cosmetic change, judging by the the usual ease it took to stab a Dark Pawn. _Crimson Dusk_ also had lights on the edge, but they were blood red, giving it a very menacing look to match Shadow's somewhat chaotic nature. As if following a trend, _Crescent Rose_ also had lights, but they were a mix; the main body of the scythe had red lights, while the border of the blade had white lights.

The security Programs were astonished at the rapidness of the situation. One millicycle, they were fighting for their lives, and the next, they found saviors in the forms of two riders on lightcycles, a young girl wielding a large scythe, and two bipedal animals, which caught them off guard.

Between the ferocity of the five beings, they made quick work of the Pawns, and the security Programs dispelled their firewalls. The leader walked up to them, his firearm at the ready. ***Identify yourselves, programs.*** he ordered.

"Seriously? We just saved them, and now they're pointing their guns at us? What gives?" asked Sonic indignantly.

"Think about it from their perspective," said Shadow. "They look like they've been fighting them off for a long time, and five beings come out of nowhere to help them? They're bound to be suspicious. I would be, too."

"You're always suspicious, Shadow." teased Ruby.

A Program that had the appearance of a blonde woman stepped up. ***Hey, while this interaction between yourselves is entertaining, could you possibly speed things along and answer the darn question?***

Chief's armoured figure stepped forward. " _I apologize for the behaviour of my comrades,_ " he said. While his helmet's reflective visor hid whatever facial expression he might be donning, everyone could tell he was slightly annoyed. " _I am Chief, the class five Artificial Intelligence program of the independent vessel_ Normandy _._ "

" _I'm Aeromi, the class four A.I. of the_ Tornado X _!_ " the female A.I. said cheerily.

"Ruby, Ruby Rose."

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" the Blue Blur introduced himself with enthusiasm.

"... Shadow," responded the black Hedgehog with less enthusiasm than his blue counterpart.

 ***What are you doing here?*** the leader demanded.

" _I think it might be best to clarify a few things before we answer any more questions._ " said Chief.

" _For one thing, three of us aren't even Programs,_ " interjected Aeromi. She pointed at the fastest beings on Remnant. " _They are actually organic beings from the real world. You may know them by the name of 'Users'._ "

 ***Users?*** scoffed one of the security programs. ***Yeah right, there's no way Users could enter this world.***

Shadow calmly walked up to the dubious Program, grabbed his collar, and dragged his head down to Shadow's eye level. "When was the last time you saw a Program that looked like a Hedgehog?" he snarled. The Program paled in fear.

The leader sighed. ***Axis, let's hear them out before we judge.*** He put his gun away. ***Besides, their I.D. discs should tell the truth.***

Chief nodded and twisted Shadow's disc off of his back. This action startled the Hedgehog enough to make him release the poor Program. The A.I. of the _Normandy_ pressed a few buttons on the disc, and Shadow's holographic emblem was replaced by a video playback of the minutes before he, Sonic, and Ruby were sent to the Digital Realm.

When the leader saw this, he was convinced. ***Apologies for acting suspicious. It seems that when these strange viruses appeared, they took the place of my hospitality.*** Chief placed Shadow's disc back on his back.

"Hey, no harm, no foul," said Sonic. "Let me give you the short version of why we're here. Basically there's a communications blackout in Vale, and we were sent here to find out what's wrong, and to fix it."

 ***Incredible.*** breathed the leader. He took off his helmet, and the first thing the noticed wasn't the short black hair or the skin of someone fighting for too long inside a helmet. No, the first thing they noticed was the eyes.

One was a startling golden colour, while the other was glowing blue, an obvious prosthetic. The leader saw them staring. ***Don't mind the fake ocular sensor, that came from a rather nasty virus many cycles ago. Anyways, the odd Programs we were fighting have taken over the communications grid. I bet that's where the communications blackout that's affecting the real world is taking place.*** He pointed at a large tower that was different from the rest of the city. Whereas all the normal buildings had white lights, the tower was illuminated by orange lights.

" _Before we get started, I think we'd better get your name."_ said Chief.

 ***Oh, right. My name's Sentinel. And just out of curiosity, what are those Programs?*** He pointed at the pieces of robots scattered across the data streets.

Shadow kicked open the chestplate of a nearby Dark Pawn, and revealed a slowly dissolving Deathstalker grub. "They're called _Dark Pawns_ , and they were built by a madman known as Doctor Eggman. They're powered by the Creatures of Grimm, but more importantly, Eggman has found a way to send them to this realm and cause chaos in the real world."

Chief nodded at Shadow's summation. " _Well, we had better hurry. Let's split up. Aeromi, you go with the half of the remaining Programs and assist in defending everyone else. Ruby, Hedgehogs, Sentinel, and the rest, you come with me to the center of the corrupted portion of the city so we can do some serious debugging. Sync?_ "

"Um, what?"

Aeromi looked at Ruby. " _Oh, um, just say sync whenever he does. It's his way of asking 'Do you understand?'._ "

"Alright… Sync?"

Chief put a glove to his helmet in resignation. " _This is gonna be a long day._ " he sighed.

* * *

_Digital Realm  
_ _1:30 p.m._

***So, let me get this straight. You three are Users?***

Ruby faced Sentinel, the head of the security programs. "Well, we are made of squishy guts instead of a bunch of numbers, but that's right. I'm a student at Beacon Academy."

Ruby, Sonic, Shadow, and Chief were making their way towards the communications hub in the Digital Realm with Sentinel and his unit of security Programs with Chief in the lead. Sentinel, despite his rough exterior, couldn't help but be curious about these newcomers to cyberspace.

 ***And what about you two?*** He pointed at Sonic and Shadow. ***I may not be totally up to date with happenings in the real world, but you guys don't look like humans or Faunus'.***

"Shadow and I are actually from another world entirely. We were sent here due to an accident caused by Eggman, and we've pretty much made a temporary home in Remnant." explained Sonic.

"I'll be glad to leave, though." grumbled Shadow.

Sonic and Ruby looked at the black Hedgehog in mock horror. "Do you really mean that!?" they asked in unison.

Shadow paused in thought, then shrugged. "Actually, not really, but I have a reputation to keep, so don't take offense."

Before they could turn a corner, Chief held up a fist, signalling them to stop. He pulled out another rod, but this one looked slightly different than the rods that turned into the lightcycles. A button pressing later, the rod transformed into a rifle that had two gun barrels, with a large barrel under a small one. He pulled out a screen on the gun similar to a camcorder and pushed a lever, bending the gun on a hinge. Poking the gun around the corner, he studied the screen intently. " _We've got a problem._ " he said as he adjusted his rifle back to its default position.

"What is it?" asked Sonic, not bothering to ask what the gun was, figuring that Chief would tell them when it was necessary.

Chief looked at the Hedgehog. " _It's a situation where things go wrong, but that's not important right now. There are many Pawns behind this corner, and they seem to be guarding the entrance to the hub._ "

 ***So why don't we just take them?*** asked a Program with long blonde hair. She raised her rifle in anticipation.

Sentinel sighed. ***Listen, _Mayde_ , we may have the element of surprise, but if we do things your way, we'll lose it pretty fast. If they can spare a large amount of robots to guard the door, how many do you think will be inside?***

Mayde stepped back, chastised. ***Sorry, sir.***

***Don't sweat it. I actually have an idea of how to destroy them all without tipping them off.***

" _You do?_ "

Sentinel nodded. ***Chief, do you have any EMP grenades in that belt of tricks of yours? I wouldn't ask, but we used ours before your timely arrival.***

The armoured figure pulled out two black spheres and passed one to the security Program. " _I hope you know what you're doing._ "

Sentinel grinned. ***Don't worry, we do this thing all the time with stubborn viruses. Axis, you ready?***

The Program that Shadow had scared earlier pulled out a small helicopter and placed the grenade on it. Using his _S-tool_ , Axis typed in a few commands and launched the drone, sending it above the thickest concentration of Dark Pawns. Meanwhile, Mayde activated her _S-tool_ and typed a string of commands.

"What are you doing?" asked Ruby.

Mayde smiled. ***I'm making sure we don't disturb the neighbors.*** A soft _*ding*_ could be heard from the female Program's tool. ***Okay, boss, we're ready to rock n' roll.***

The head security Program nodded. ***Alright. Axis, let's turn out the lights.***

Axis clicked a button on his _S-tool_ with glee. The grenade that was attached to the drone suddenly detached, the action priming it. Oddly enough, it landed on an unfortunate Pawn's head, and the built-in adhesive glued the grenade onto the Pawn.

 _*What the heck?*_ said a nearby robot that witnessed the black sphere sticking to it's partner's head.

_*What?*_

_*You've got something on your head.*_

_*What, like a spider? Get it off!*_

_*Dude, we're in the digital realm of Vale, how can spiders even exist in here? More to the point, it's not a spider, it's some sort of black sphere.*_

_*What, like a black spider? Get it off!*_

The drone that originally ejected the grenade was currently observing the interaction of the two Pawns, and the built-in translator made for great entertainment for the group. Axis checked his instruments. ***Whoops, looks like I forgot to set it on a timer. I can still remote detonate, thankfully.***

"Quiet!" whispered Ruby. "I wanna see how long this will go."

Chief was trying very hard not to laugh at the sight of the Pawns, but he steeled himself. " _As much as I would like this to continue, we still don't have communications back up in Vale._ "

"Okay, fine." said Ruby, pouting a bit.

 _*Alright, so it's not a spider, I get it. But a black sphere doesn't sound much better than a spider.*_ the Pawn with the grenade said, completely oblivious.

_*Does it hurt?*_

_*No, but it might be bad in the long run. Who knows what it'll do?*_

Axis pushed the detonation button on his _S-tool_ with a sad look on his face. Lights started flashing rapidly on the grenade.

 _*What's going on?*_ asked the Pawn with the grenade stuck to his head. _*That beeping sounds like…*_ Understanding suddenly flashed through the Dark Pawn's processor. _*Oh, son of a b-*_

**_BANG!_ **

The EMP grenade finally went off, and while the explosion itself was pretty small, it wasn't really designed to release lots of fiery gases and shrapnel. Rather, it sent out an electromagnetic pulse that fried all electronics within the vicinity. The whole upshot of it all was that all the Dark Pawns shut down, and it even killed all the Creatures of Grimm that were inside them as an added bonus, taking them offline permanently.

The group rushed forward, with Chief leading. " _Good, no alert was sent, and the security on the inside isn't aware of us._ "

"Hey, Chief? I think the door's locked." said Sonic, pointed at the entrance to the hub.

The armoured A.I. pulled out his rifle again, and manipulated it so it took the form of a large key-shaped sword.

 ***Uh, I don't know how to put this, but I don't think that key of yours isn't going to get through this door.*** said a dubious Sentinel.

" _Hey, don't doubt the_ Master Key _._ " said Chief.

"Okay, let me be the one to ask, why is your weapon called the _Master Key_?" asked Shadow.

In response, Chief aimed it at the door like a shotgun and pulled out a handle. He pulled the trigger on said handle, and the slug that exited the shaft completely destroyed the lock.

The A.I. pushed the door open easily, then posed with the giant key on his shoulder. " _Because this baby will open any lock._ " said Chief smugly.

Shadow gaped at the weapon, regained his composure, and shrugged. "Yeah, that makes sense to me."

"Did Tails code that weapon in addition to the modified lightcycles?" asked Sonic.

Chief shook his head. " _Captain Shepard wrote this based on his own_ Master Key _._ "

"Where does he carry it?" wondered Ruby. "I think we would have noticed something like that before."

"Let's just say that fake leg isn't just made for walking. Let's move."

* * *

_Mountain Ruins  
_ _same time_

Because the ruins in the mountains were still trying to recover from the unknown _Atlesian Knight uprising_ , there really was no resistance against anything besides Grimm, and the White Fang airship landed unopposed. A few members jumped out in front of the large pyramid, securing the area while the ship landed, and a ramp extended from the side.

The clack of heels could be heard as a woman slowly walked down. She had white boots, brown pants, white coat, and black gloves, but the really interesting features she had were on her head. One half of the woman's long hair was pink, while the other was brown. She observed the site, a keen intelligence seen in her brown and pink eyes.

Apparently satisfied with the results, Neo calmly opened her parasol and gestured to the White Fang members inside. They quickly got out, some armed with guns, while others were carrying large tanks. All were escorted by Dark Pawns. The one leading them was very distinctive due to his attire: it was all black, had a rose on the back of his shirt, and he had no hood, which showed off his red hair and brown horns. He was also carrying a rifle-shaped sheath in his hand.

"Alright, let's make this quick," ordered Adam Taurus. "Are the charges set?"

In response, one White Fang soldier gave him a black remote. Adam looked at Neo, and she nodded. He pressed the button, which sent a signal to some explosives that were placed on a clean portion of the floor in the pyramid. There was a loud bang, and when the dust settled, the tunnel that led to King Mogar's tomb was exposed.

"Alright, I need to someone to go down there and disarm any traps. Any volunteers?" A few members stepped up, but Adam pointed at a woman with a distinctive squirrel tail. "Congratulations, rookie, you get to be scout. Go down there and secure the area."

"Yes, sir!"

The Faunus launched a clawshot from her wrist and gently used it to lower herself into the hole.

"Whew, finally I've gotten away from them," Tali said to herself. "I may not be able to stop them from taking _Dralux_ , but I won't let them get rich off of the treasure trove."

Tali quickly ran down the dark hallways, using her night vision to navigate. "King Mogar?" she whispered.

On cue, a ghostly form appeared. _ **"Oh, for Pete's sake, can't a guy get any sleep around here?"**_ he grumbled. He then noticed the Faunus, and was about to take a deep breath to scare her, when she put a finger to her lips, signalling silence. She took off her mask, revealing her red eyes.

"I'm friends with Silver and the others from Mobius," whispered Tali. "I don't know how up to date you are with current events, but the White Fang are here to retrieve the energy of Dralux."

If it was possible for a ghost to get even more pale, that was what Mogar did. **_"How can I trust you?"_**

"Silver is a Hedgehog from Mobius' future, and he is known to be somewhat naive." said Tali

 ** _"Yeah, that's Silver, all right. So why are you here, Faunus?"_** asked the ghost.

"I'm currently infiltrating the White Fang, and I am so sorry for this, but I cannot stop them. The best I can do is sabotage them when I can, and I'll have to block the entrance to the treasure room. I may not be able to stop them, but they won't get any richer from you."

Mogar was silent for a while, still reeling from the implications of what Tali said. He led the Faunus to the treasure room.

 ** _"Brave Faunus, I want you to take my sword,"_** he said reverently, pointing at the diamond sword on the pedestal. **_"My spirit is tied to the sword, the result of a curse by Dralux. As long as the sword exists, so do I. Please send it to Silver and his friends. It seems that whatever will happen, they will be the key to ending all of this."_**

Tali nodded and carefully lifted the sword, putting it in it's sheath. She then attached a device to the hilt of the sword. This changed the appearance of the sword and sheath to something that looked rusty and worn.

The squirrel Faunus reached into her gauntlets and pulled out some explosive charges. She placed them on the doorway and ran like heck before pushing the detonation button. The charges blew, and completely sealed the doorway.

 _'Perfect,'_ thought Tali. _'If they had more time, the White Fang could have dug through this, but they won't have time to dig through the debris. Well, better get back before they get suspicious.'_

* * *

Back on the surface, Neo felt a rumble, her left eye turning pink reflexively before turning back to its usual brown. Adam was pacing impatiently. He then heard a crackle on his radio, and answered it. "Report."

_"Site is secure, sir."_

"Excellent. What was that explosion we felt earlier?"

_"The treasure room was booby-trapped. I managed to get out of there before the doorway collapsed. I was able to grab one thing, but to be perfectly honest, it really wasn't worth it."_

Adam gripped the radio harder. "What did you grab, rookie?" he snarled. "If it's gold-"

_"Just an old, rusty sword. I'll still keep it, though. Maybe I'll sell it someday."_

Adam rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Very well. You can keep it as a souvenir. Is the entrance to the treasure room completely blocked?"

There was a tone of annoyance in Tali's voice. _"Yeah, it is. If we had more time, we could probably dig through it, but-"_

Adam felt a tapping on his shoulder and saw Neo with a text on her Scroll _"We're on a tight schedule, our little distraction in Vale won't last forever. Come back to the entrance to the tomb, we'll send some reinforcements and start acquiring Dralux's energy. We'll deal with the treasure trove another time."_ Adam repeats the order that Neo texted, rather reluctantly.

_"Yes, Sir."_

* * *

**_"I hope you know what you're doing, Miss Williams."_** said Mogar's voice in the back of Tali's head.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone has questioned my decisions, myself included. I mean, I'm engaged to a human, for crying out loud. Who knows what kind of remarks we'll get when we have the rings on our fingers."

Mogar was quite shocked. **_"Do you regret falling in love with him?"_** he asked quitely.

Tali looked on her back at the hidden sword. "Don't even think about arguing with me on that. I love Shepard, and he loves me. He doesn't even mind that I have the tail of a squirrel. In fact, he thinks it's an endearing feature.

"Point is, you've gotta take a chance on some things. Like I'm taking a chance smuggling you out, and you're taking a chance in trusting me."

Mogar chuckled. **_"This is very true. However, seeing as you're friends with Silver, and are engaged to a human, I don't think I'm taking that big of a risk."_**

Their conversation was cut short as the energy containers were lowered into the hole. As she caught them, she placed paper-thin plates from her gauntlets onto the containers, which blended with the material, making them invisible to anyone except those who knew where they were.

 ** _"What are those?"_ **Mogar asked.

Tali grinned. "Let's just say they're a kind of trump card."

They stopped talking as additional White Fang members entered the tomb.

* * *

Outside, a black metal Hedgehog watched the operation with interest. Neo Metal Sonic was finally repaired, though it took longer than he expected it to.

In hindsight, it wasn't too surprising. The Creatures of Grimm often gather towards sources of negative emotion, and the robot wasn't in the best of moods after his defeat. Ergo, he often had to use precious energy to blast Grimm that got too close instead of using it to repair himself.

Pretty soon, the only Grimm that were left were ones that had lived for hundreds of years and knew better than to aggravate humans, let alone a pretty cranky robot. Still, they couldn't help but be drawn to him, and Metal Sonic allowed them to live, especially after observing the Dark Pawns.

 _Btzz- Hm… Those pawns aren't the same as the ones I reprogrammed all those years ago…-Btzz_ he murmured. He did a quick scan of one.

 _Btzz- Well, 'Master',"_ Metal Sonic said mockingly, _"it seems you've been able to harness the powers of the Creatures of Grimm like I have, but in a different way. You're playing with fire, old man, and I'll love to watch you get burned... after I kill Sonic, of course. -Btzz_

He eyed his small gathering of Grimm. _Btzz-_ _Still, that does give me an idea... -Btzz,_ he chuckled evilly.


	34. Culprit revealed

_Digital Realm's Communications Hub  
_ _1:45 p.m._

The group quickly made their way through the building that housed the communications systems of Vale, sneaking past large groups of Dark Pawns when necessary. Sonic wasn't used to all this sneaking around, but he understood that being hasty could ruin their chances of getting it done quickly. Ruby and Shadow felt the same.

"How much further, Chief?"

The A.I.'s helmeted face looked at Shadow. " _Not too long, now._ " He peeked around a corner with his _Master Key_ in it's " _Cornershot_ " mode, and pointed out a large hallway with an equally large door on the screen. " _The Central Control Room is in there. I'm picking up a lot of movement inside, though._ "

"Then Eggman must be in there!" Sonic said excitedly.

Chief held up a gloved hand, signalling silence. " _Let's get inside before we jump to hasty conclusions about who might be in there, although your suspicions may be correct. However, there are a lot of Pawns guarding it, and I don't want to use an EMP this deep in the building._ "

"Why not?" asked Ruby.

Sentinel answered her question. ***The equipment in that room is unshielded, and the electromagnetic pulse might make the repair times increase from, in your time units, six minutes to six days. I imagine that Vale is chaotic enough already without communications, so just think of what a few days might cause. For example, there could be a breach in the borders, and no one would know about it until a raging Ursa slices your door open and- well, you get the idea.***

Chief nodded at Sentinel's explanation. " _Exactly. But while the room is unshielded electronically, we will still be able to fight in hand-to-hand combat._ " He glanced at Sonic's sword. " _Do you know how to use that thing?_ "

Sonic twirled _Cobalt Shard_ around a few times, the light from the blade making a very nice light show before securely grabbing the hilt, smirking. "What's to understand about 'swish, swish, stab'? It's a sword, not a fighter jet."

"Just try and stop me." said Shadow evilly, changed _Crimson Dusk_ from rifle to katana.

Ruby looked nervous. "I'm not sure how much use I'd be. I use pretty powerful ammunition for _Crescent Rose_ , and I might put a hole in something important."

Sentinel motioned a program from his unit forward. He had a dark brown complexion, and he had a lot of muscle- probably needed to carry around the large rotary gun on his back. He was also very tall- not as tall as Chief, but pretty close, though. ***Jericho can help you with that. Jerry, let's give Miss Rose some modifications to her ammo.***

 ***Yes, sir!*** Jericho answered in a deep, cultured voice. He knelt down in front of Ruby so that her silver eyes were level with his dark green ones. ***May I see your ammunition?*** he asked politely, which was surprising, coming out of an intimidating figure

Ruby took out a magazine from her belt and handed it to the big program. Jericho put it on the ground in front of him and pointed an arm at the magazine. A grid formed around it, and the program started typing into his _S-tool_. A holographic loading bar appeared above the magazine, and it quickly finished.

"What was that?" asked Ruby.

Jericho picked up the magazine and handed it back to Ruby. ***I modified your ammunition. With my upgrade, you'll be able to use you weapon's potential to the maximum without endangering the equipment inside. Any bullet you fire will go through any target, but it won't penetrate anything important.***

"That's smart thinkin'," said Sonic. "And here I thought you were just here for destroying things. I didn't realize that you were-"

 ***Smart?*** Jericho laughed. ***I was originally part of a program that designed weapons for the Atlas military. When they upgraded their software, they donated it to Vale, and I was rewritten as an antivirus program, but I still retained some of my functions from my previous job.***

 ***And believe me, it has come in handy many times,** * said Sentinel. ***Okay, I think we're all ready, Chief.***

The A.I. nodded and shifted his weapon to " _Keyblade_ " mode. " _Alright, let's get this thing done. Sonic and Shadow, show these Program what Mobians can do._ "

The Hedgehogs nodded and ran out of their cover, the lights on their swords blazing. Sonic spin-dashed through a group of Pawns, caused them to be propelled into the air. Shadow took care of those when they landed, _Crimson Dusk_ glowing brightly as it sliced through them.

Chief joined the fray, blocking any bullets directed at him with _Master Key_. The few shots that did get through didn't penetrate the A.I., for it seemed that his suit had some kind of personal shielding which glowed before fading. He switched modes and launched a grenade into a large gathering of Pawns. There was a satisfying explosion that left an equally satisfying pile of robot parts.

Sentinel's security programs managed to corner a few robots with shields. Axis and Sentinel were firing their rifles while Mayd was throwing a ridiculous amount of knives from an unknown source. The knives that stuck into the ground at various places blinked softly until the blonde program pressed a button on her _S-tool_. A huge electrical discharge occurred, paralyzing all the Pawns and causing weapons and shields to drop out of their hands. Jericho, not to be outdone, took out his rotary gun and mowed them down

Out of nowhere, a few flying Eggman robots appeared and started firing at the group. They were high enough that neither Sonic nor Shadow could reach them. Sonic was preparing to run up the wall to take them out when a shrill "YAAAAAAHHH!" caused him to look to Ruby as she launched herself up to the ceiling with _Crescent Rose_. She pushed off and used her scythe to accelerate her body towards the flying Dark Badniks, then slammed her boots into one of them. She repeated this tactic a few times, mimicking Sonic's homing chain attack the best way she could.

When all the flying robots were dealt with, Ruby landed on a Dark Pawn in front of Sonic, caving said Pawn's head in, before she did a back-flip off of it, landing perfectly. "So, how was that?" she asked.

Sonic took a second to pick his jaw off the floor before answering. "A little sloppy on the turns, and your form needs practice."

"Everyone's a critic." replied Ruby, rolling her eyes.

Sonic chuckled. "Joking aside, that was probably the best homing chain I've ever seen from someone that's not a Mobian. When we finish up here, I'll give you some pointers."

Ruby paused. "I was that good?" she asked, astounded.

"Judging by the fact that we're not being fired on by flying robots and you're still alive to ask about it, I'd say you're a natural."

Sonic and Ruby high-fived before joining the others at the large door. Chief was checking his S-tool intently. " _My motion tracker is detecting only one being behind this room. However, since he or she is the cause of the disturbances in the real world, we must take the necessary precautions._ "

Everyone nodded in agreement as the A.I. put a hand to his ear. " _Aeromi, we're about to stir the hornet's nest. Are all the civilian Programs out of harms way?_ "

" _Aye aye, Chief. We've even picked up some reinforcement.,_ " she responded

Chief raised a hidden eyebrow. " _Reinforcements? From where?_ "

" _I relayed our plight to General Ironwood in Atlas, at Professor Ozpin's request. He's sending in some backup that should be arriving soon._ "

Chief had to ask: " _What form of backup?_ "

" _The general just said, 'What I'm sending will change the world.'_ " Aeromi let that information sink in. " _Yeah, I thought that was weird, too._ "

" _That's… unexpected, not to mention cryptic as heck. Give him my regards, and keep a safe distance. Move in when you see the signal._ "

" _Affirmative. Wait, what's the signal?_ "

Chief thought about it. " _If you see big plumes of smoke and fire, we could probably use some help._ "

" _Ah, right. Goin' with the insane approach, I see. How about I wait ten minutes instead?_ "

" _That'll work. Chief out._ "

The _Normandy's_ A.I. got his _Master Key_ in a ready stance. " _Well, let's not delay any longer. Everyone ready?_ "

Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby nodded, as well as Sentinel's group of Programs. Chief told everyone to get on either side of the door.

" _Okay, here we go. Three… Two…_ "

On " _one_ ", Chief kicked the door open and quickly stepped out of the way as bright beams flashed from the entrance, exploding further down the hall. Very soon, smoke filled the entrance to the Central Control Room. It was so bad, Chief silently showed the speedy trio how to activate a breath mask function so they could breathe easily. At one point, Sentinel took out a cigar from his pack and lit it using the beams that rushed by.

"Did I get them?" asked voice from inside after a few minutes of blasting the hallway.

"Missed, sucker!" heckled Sonic.

"What the- _Orbot_! I thought you said the calibration was complete!" the voice exclaimed in an irritable manner.

"If I recall," replied another voice, "you were the one who decided to send this robot without any testing. I said the calibration of the weapons systems was INcomplete."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"'Orbot, get me something to eat.' 'Orbot, go see if our guests need anything.' 'Orbot, shut up, I don't have time to listen to progress reports.' Does any of that ring a bell?"

A third voice joined in, this one having a bit of a Southern accent. "As for me, Ah was busy workin' on mah voice chip."

There was a brief clang, followed by the first voice muttering, "That ought to shut you two up for a while."

Seeing that the culprit was distracted, the group quickly rushed into the room. Like the rest of the captured portions of the city, this room was lit up with orange lights, which meant corruption of some kind. There were many tables with touch pads on them, and their function was a mystery to the speedy trio. However, their focus turned to the center of the room, where a large robot crocodile sat in front of a large seat. Normally, this seat would be used by an overseer-type Program that monitored communications in Vale, but now it was occupied by a large man and two small robots, both of which had large dents.

"Eggman!" shouted Sonic. "I knew you had something to do with this!"

"What was your first clue, the Eggman robots?" asked Shadow sarcastically.

Chief stepped forward. " _Doctor, what did you hope to accomplish with disrupting the communications network of Vale?_ "

Eggman eyed the armoured figure suspiciously. "That's none of your business. This is just one step of many towards building my empire!"

 ***Actually,*** interjected Sentinel, ***it IS our business. Especially since you de-rezzed innocent Programs just for some megalomaniac scheme!***

"So? What are a bunch of measly Programs compared to my genius?" Eggman proclaimed.

Orbot popped up into view. "Doctor, I'd like to point out that-"

"Attack, my robots!" the mad doctor ordered. A wave of Pawns appeared and quickly surrounded all those who would defy Eggman. The mixed group of Programs and organic beings got in a circle, weapons at the ready.

Before the Pawns could fire, Chief put his weapon away and punched the ground. This activated a bubble shield, protecting everyone inside it.

"So… How long is this going to protect us?" asked Ruby conversationally, even though she was worried about the large amount of robots surrounding them.

" _It only needs to protect us for five more seconds._ " responded Chief, watching a countdown on his _S-tool_.

On "zero", a large ball the size of a person crashed down from the ceiling, crushing a few robots when it landed. Chief's bubble shield dissipated, but the Pawns were more interested about the ball that just arrived instead of killing the occupants of the former bubble.

The large sphere started shifting parts, disassembling itself as a figure emerged from it. The person's identity was hidden by the large amount of smoke, and no one could tell who or what it was until a familiar voice was heard, saying just one word:

"Sal-u-tations!"


	35. Just a Distraction

_Team RWBY's dorm  
_ _2:00 p.m._

"The guys sure have been gone a while, haven't they?" wondered Weiss.

Because of the disturbance of the communications systems, the teachers at Beacon allowed the students to return to their rooms. However, the members of Team RWBY couldn't help but worry for their leader.

"I'm sure Ruby's fine, Ice Queen." said Rouge from her spot on the ceiling. She and the rest of the Mobians decided to keep the team company while they waited for Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby to come back.

"Besides, Sonic's with them!" Amy gushed. "Nothing can stop him! Oh, my Sonic…"

Blake wasn't convinced. "I highly doubt that whoever caused these problems will be easy to take down. Also, I can't help but wonder why someone would want to disrupt communications." she said behind her book.

"Well, at least we have help from Captain Shepard," said Yang. Zwei, who was sitting beside her, yipped in agreement.

"Right. And how long will we have help from him?" asked Weiss dubiously. "From what I recall, he's doing this for a contract I gave him. What happens if he gets a contract from Torchwick's gang that's worth more? He may be doing good things now, but in the end, he's just a pirate."

"Hey, I prefer the term, 'beneficial mercenary', thank you." Shepard said from the entrance to the room.

Weiss jumped in surprise. "Wha-?"

"How long have you been standing there?" asked Silver.

Shepard ignored the question. "Let me tell you something, Miss Schnee. My crew and I may be doing the things we do for money, but that's a secondary objective. We run extensive background checks on all the jobs we are approached with as well as the clients who sent them. And that's only after the government decides to send the contract to us.

"Believe me, we have had plenty of occasions where ne'er-do-wells seeking our services. Heck, Torchwick himself tried to hire us once under a false identity. Wanted us to assassinate General Ironwood."

"Really?" asked Blaze, intrigued. "What did you do?"

Shepard chuckled at the memory. "When we discovered it was Torchwick that requested the job, we sent him a return message saying, 'Even if we did do assassinations, you didn't pay enough up-front.' He paid a substantial amount of money, too."

Blake smiled. "I bet that he wasn't too happy about that."

"Nope. Especially since we told the police where he was at the time. Seeing his face on the news as he was arrested was worth it. Shame he escaped a few months later."

"What did you do with the money he gave you?" Knuckles asked.

"We gave half of it to several orphanages, a quarter to the Atlas military, and the rest was used in the purchase of ammunition for the stationary guns on the _Normandy_.

"My point is, we never take jobs from criminals. If ANYTHING in the job description sounds bad, we give a tip to the local police, and donate money used for beneficial purposes."

Weiss looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, Captain…"

"Call me John. Don't worry, Miss Schnee, you aren't the first person to judge my character." Shepard stepped forward and took Weiss's hand in both of his. "Just know that my crew and I are dedicated to the betterment of life in Remnant."

Weiss nodded. "Sorry if I offended you, John. It's a old habit I'm working on breaking."

Shepard laughed as he released the heiress' hands. "That's good! And don't worry, I've been called much worse than 'pirate'."

"You are doing better at bein' open-minded, hon." said Rouge encouragingly.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, I wanted to let you all know that the Atlas military is sending someone you know to help your friends in the _Digital Realm_. They should be almost finished in there anyways, so you won't have to wait much longer for Ruby and the hedgehogs to come back."

As Shepard walked out of the room, the humans, Mobians, and Faunus looked at each other in confusion. "Someone we know in the Atlas military?" wondered Blake.

Tails jumped up, the expression on his face one of excitement. "Don't you see what this means?"

"No, not really." responded Knuckles.

"There's only one person we know! They're sending in-"

* * *

_Digital Realm's Central Communications Hub  
_ _same time_

"Penny?!"

To say that Ruby was surprised at seeing the synthetic girl was like saying her sister was mildly upset when her hair was shortened without her consent. A pretty large understatement, in other words.

"Oh, hello there, Ruby!" greeted Penny, oblivious to the fact that her mode of transportation crushed some Dark Pawns underneath it.

"What the- Who the heck is this brat!?" Eggman managed to ask through his surprise.

" _I wouldn't mind knowing, either._ " said Chief. Sentinel and his Programs nodded in agreement.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

" _Um, Aeromi? There's a girl here that arrived through the ceiling. Is she the backup I requested?_ " Chief asked through his communicator.

" _Yep, that's her. Don't worry, Chief, she's stronger than she looks._ " Aeromi responded.

Eggman, having seen enough, ordered an Egg Brute to confront the girl. The robot walked towards Penny, towering over her. The robot sized up the girl, and coming to the conclusion that she wasn't a threat, raised a large foot. However, just before it was about to squish her, Penny raised both hands and caught it, arms straining with the effort of holding it. Penny then pushed off of the ground, toppling the Brute.

"What?" said Sonic in awe. "Even Knuckles couldn't do something like that."

"If I recall correctly, she's supposed to be the first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura, so she's bound to have a lot of strength." Shadow commented. He took another look at the Brute lying on the ground. "That was pretty cool, though."

" _She can generate an Aura?_ " asked Chief, who wasn't aware of Penny's capabilities and origins. " _I thought only beings with souls could generate Aura._ "

"Just because Penny's creation was artificial doesn't mean she has no soul." Ruby retorted. "Besides, from what I've seen, you A.I.'s also might have something close to a soul."

"Wait… That girl's a robot? With a SOUL?!" gaped Eggman. "That's not possible! Why, even in all my years of research and experiments, none of my robots acquired anything close to a soul!"

"Tsk, tsk, for a genius, you don't have very good memory," said Shadow, shaking his head. "Need I remind you about your 'failed' robot, E-123 Omega?"

Orbot popped up. "He does have a point, Doctor. And don't forget about Metal So-"

"Shut up!" Eggman yelled. "Gah, I'm sick of listening to this blasphemy. Attack that abomination!"

All the Pawns in the room started to rush the robot girl. The programs and organic beings prepared to help Penny out, but it seemed that their help wasn't needed as a compartment on Penny's back opened up, and about fifteen swords flew out and floated just behind her head.

As the first Pawns reached her, Penny wove her hands in a sweeping pattern, and the swords behind her arranged themselves in a saw-like formation. They then swept through the lines of Pawns, slicing them open and killing the Creatures of Grimm inside of them. A few of them opened fire at the girl, but Penny directed her swords to spin around her, blocking all the bullets.

"Whoa. I knew that Penny was a robot, but I really didn't expect… this!" said Sonic.

Shadow couldn't stand still any longer, and decided to help the android by spin-dashing through most of the robots that were shooting at her, _Crimson Dusks_ ' red blade slicing through robots with ease. Sonic and Ruby joined the fray, slicing any robots in their way. Penny nodded her thanks, then felt a rumble behind her. She looked and saw the Brute she toppled earlier rising up. It raised a huge fist, intending to crush the girl. However, the compartment on Penny's back opened up again and released two more swords that connected with her via very strong monofilament wire. These swords were launched into a wall, and they reeled Penny in like a fish, taking her out of the path of the metal fist.

Sentinel and his Programs started to rush to help the robot girl, but Chief held out a hand. " _Wait. I want to see how she handles this._ "

The Egg Brute's internal processor was seething with rage at its inability to hit the girl, and started to run at her, crushing any Pawns that got in its way. Penny calmly held her hands out in front of her, and her swords rushed in front of her, the "handles" shifting parts. They started spinning rapidly, a ball of green energy building in the center.

When the energy reached a sufficient level, Penny thrust her hands forward. This triggered a firing mechanism on the spinning swords, and the energy was released in several laser beams. The energy of the beams hit the Brute as well as most of the Pawns behind it. The Brute stood still for a few seconds, then the left side of it's body fell one direction, while the right side fell the opposite direction, exposing the evaporating Ursa inside. Penny straightened up, a satisfied smirk on her face.

Chief looked at the remains of the Egg Brute as he called up Aeromi. " _Hey, remember when I was dubious about our backup being a young girl?_ " he asked.

" _Yeah, what about it?_ " the female A.I. asked.

" _I take it all back._ "

" _Why, what happened?_ "

Chief looked at the carnage caused by Penny. " _Let's just say when Ironwood sends backup, he REALLY sends backup._ "

Eggman had seen enough. He hopped into his Egg Pod and inserted it into a hole on the robot lizard he had arrived in. On closer inspection, it appeared more like a black crocodile was silver armour plates. To top it off, the robot had glowing red eyes.

"Oh, great. What clever name did you come up with for that thing?" taunted Sonic. "The _Egg Croc_? _Egg Gator_?"

"For your information, you ignorant blue rat, this is the _Egg Suchus_!" Eggman bellowed.

"Big deal, it'll still smash up nicely all the same." said Ruby.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that, _flower girl_ ," the mad doctor said in a menacing tone. The _Egg Suchus_ turned its head toward Ruby and opened its very large mouth, showing an intimidating set of teeth. More importantly, however, was the buildup of energy that could be seen building up in the "throat". A huge laser beam shot out and would have hit Ruby if her Semblance wasn't speed.

"Hahaha, take this!" All along the robot crocodile, gun ports opened up, and missiles started firing at anyone not aligned with Eggman. Everyone dodged the wave of missiles, but only just.

" _Penny!_ " Chief called out as he ran towards the girl. " _How long until your laser is charged up again?_ "

The robot girl was understandably intimidated by the armoured figure as he stopped in front of her, but she sensed that he was not an enemy when he activated his bubble shield and protected them both from an incoming missile. "I can only use that technique once every twenty-four hours. It'll take too much energy for me to do it again this soon, even in this realm."

" _Well, I didn't expect this to be too easy._ " Chief said, getting _Master Key_ ready.

 ***We can't let that thing destroy any more of the room!*** shouted Sentinel. ***Another blast of that laser, and there won't be any communication systems left to fix!***

"I think I have an idea on how to get rid of that laser," said Sonic. "Chief, pass me one of those emps!"

" _Emps? What do you mean emps?_ "

"Oh, fine, the E.M.P. grenade!"

To say that Chief was dumbstruck was an understatement. " _Are you crazy? Having this go off in the room might be just as bad as the laser! Besides, an E.M.P. grenade might not be enough to stop that croc._ "

Sonic's expression turned into his trademark grin. "Well, thank Chaos I won't be blowing it up in the room, then!"

Chief was still understandably apprehensive about giving the grenade to the Hedgehog. " _What do you plan to do with it, then?_ "

"Relax, Chief," said Shadow. "I think I know what he's going to do. Pass him the grenade. Faker, I'll cover your approach."

"I'll help, too!" said Penny as she put a sword in each hand, the rest blocking the occasional missile that was sent their way.

"Do you even know how to use those swords in a… traditional manner?" asked Ruby.

Penny smiled. "What's to understand about swish, swish, stab? It's a sword, not a fighter jet."

"Hey, that's what I said." complained Sonic.

" _What do you even plan to do with it?_ "

Sonic whispered his plan into Chief's helmet. The Spartan A.I.'s expression of understanding was invisible to everyone, but he handed the E.M.P. to the blue Hedgehog. " _Please don't make me regret this._ "

Sonic gave Chief a reassuring thumbs up. "No worries, I got this. Ladies, Shadow, let's do this!"

 ***I have no idea what you guys are planning, but we'll help in any way we can.*** said Sentinel.

" _Blinding it ought to make things easier. Shoot out the optic sensors!_ " ordered Chief.

The Programs dispersed and fired their various weapons, aiming for the "eyes" of the _Egg Suchus_. A few shots hit the right eye, which turned dark. The robot, which already had a blind spot on the front of its face because of its crocodilian similarities, became even more pronounced.

"What the- Why is the right side of the screen so dark?!"

Apparently, Eggman didn't take blindness into account when making this robot.

As for Penny and Ruby, those two were seen slashing through Egg Pawns. Gradually, they made their way to the _Egg Suchus_. Ruby used her scythe to destroy the missile launchers while Penny stabbed her sword into the other eye, giving Eggman total blindness.

The _Egg Suchus_ opened its mouth, intent on charging and releasing another laser. However it only got to the charging stage when a blue blur was seen racing to the robot.

"BONZAI!" shouted Sonic as he threw the E.M.P. grenade into the mouth of the _Egg Suchus._ "Two for two, Egghead!"

Reflexively, the robot closed its mouth before the grenade blew up. This was actually very fortunate, because when the E.M.P. went off, the only thing affected was the _Egg Suchus_ , and not the delicate communications equipment in the room, or Penny.

The _Egg Suchus_ collapsed on the ground, but movement was still seen. The robot's midsection blew up, and a very injured King Taijitu slithered out. The snake, finally freed from its imprisonment, silently wondered who to attack first; the strange humans and animals in front of it, or the obese human that stuffed it in a robot. It literally had two minds about the situation, but it never made the choice, as both minds were suddenly extinguished.

Chief lowered _Master Key_ , the tip smoking a bit. " _Well, that turned out better than expected. Nicely done, Sonic._ "

The blue Hedgehog gave the A.I. a thumbs up and a cheesy grin. "All in a day's work!"

Meanwhile, Shadow was rooting around in the wreckage of the _Egg Suchus_. He kicked the spot where Eggman's hoverpod would be, and found nothing. He then punched the robot in frustration.

"What's wrong, Shadow?" asked Ruby.

Shadow faced her, red eyes blazing with anger. "Eggman isn't here. The coward must've left this realm before the robot was destroyed." He slowly started to glow red, like before wwhen Torchwick attempted to rob Beacon.

Ruby tried to calm the black Hedgehog. "Easy, Shadow. We'll get him eventually." The red glow faded off Shadow as he did calm himself.

Sonic looked around. "So… Are we done here?" he asked.

" _I think we are,_ " said Chief. He put a hand to his helmet. " _Aeromi, go ahead and get any Programs that work in the communications center to come back._ "

" _Does that mean you won?_ " she asked.

" _Yes. I'll go ahead and transport the organics back to the real world. I'll join you after._ "

" _Roger that. Aeromi out._ "

Chief gestured to Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby. " _Come on, guys. Let's get you home._ "

"I'm up for that," said Sonic while doing some stretches. "All this blowing up robots and saving cyberspace is making me hungry. Who's up for some chili dogs?"

"Oo, oo, me!" squealed Ruby.

"... Let's just go," grumbled Shadow. "So how exactly are we gonna do this?"

Chief put his hand on the ground, and three circles of white light appeared on the ground. " _Just step into these portals. This'll transport you guys back to the computer room in Beacon Academy. Professor Goodwitch should be there to receive you three._ "

"But what about the communications?" asked Ruby. She looked around at the room. Although the damage to the room was minimal, the lights were still a sickly orange colour, and not the usual white of the city. "Shouldn't the lights be white instead of orange?"

 ***Oh, don't worry about that.*** said Sentinel. He walked up to the pedestal and pushed a few buttons. The lights surrounding the pedestal became a pure white. Gradually, the white light spread to the whole room and beyond.

Outside, Aeromi watched as the communications building matched the rest of the city. She smiled as the Programs surrounding her cheered. She was proud to have made friends with the Mobians and the students at Beacon.

* * *

_Mountain Glenn  
_ _6:00 p.m._

To describe Mountain Glenn as a post-apocalyptic ghost town is fairly accurate. It was once a thriving expansion of Vale, but due to it not having the natural barriers most successful towns would, it was overrun with the Creatures of Grimm.

Of course, that doesn't mean it was completely lifeless.

In the deep caves underneath the town, there were more empty shells of buildings. This was a last resort by the inhabitants to eke out a living away from the kingdom. However, a collapse exposed subterranean Grimm, and the people were slaughtered. It was known as the kingdom's greatest failure, and they took great pains to block up the tunnels leading to the main city so no would wander into the world's largest tomb.

This suited Cinder Fall just fine.

She observed the White Fang moving around, transporting the containers that held the energy of _Dralux_. "Well, glad to see that your end of the operation went smoothly," a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Eggman. "I lost a lot of _Dark Badniks_ to help this scheme along."

"Oh, don't you fret, Doctor," Cinder said smoothly. "You have all the energy from Dralux you require, and none of our enemies suspect that the communications problem was just a ruse to acquire it."

Eggman grinned evilly. "Now, I can begin to build a robot capable of handling all that energy. In the meantime, I'll take advantage of the large variety and amount of Grimm here and set up a Badnik assembly plant to swell our ranks."

Cinder nodded in acknowledgement. As Eggman walked away, a sinister smile was seen on her face.

_'Everything is going according to plan.'_


	36. I May Fall

_Beacon Academy  
_ _6:00 p.m._

From within the headmaster's office, Ozpin was sitting at his desk looking at the setting sun, deep in thought, when his desktop communicator rang. He pushed a button, and a flat screen rose up. The symbol of Beacon Academy was replaced by a man very familiar to Ozpin. He had an aged face, piercing eyes, and black hair that was white with age at the temples. He wore a white coat with matching gloves on his hands.

 _"Ozpin! It's nice to see you again!"_ he greeted.

"General Ironwood," Ozpin nodded in respect. "What can I do for you?"

_"How are things at the academy?"_

Ozpin suppressed a smile. "Oh, it's the usual. However, to be perfectly frank, I'm not sure who's giving me more gray hairs these days- the students, or our otherworldly visitors."

_"Ah, yes. I had heard about these 'Mobians'. Truly, it is an incredible occurrence, conversing with beings from another world."_

"I'm surprised, James. I thought you would be suspicious of them, especially since their nemesis was the one that caused the communications blackout we had in Vale this afternoon."

Ironwood waved a hand dismissively. _"I will admit, I did wonder about their motives for coming to this world. However, from what I've heard, it's this 'Doctor Eggman' that we should be worried about."_

"Indeed." said a dark male voice.

Ozpin looked to his left. "Ah, good, you're here. James, I'd like to introduce Shadow the Hedgehog, one of the Mobians that arrived not too long ago. Shadow, this is General Ironwood of the Atlas Military."

Shadow nodded. "General."

"Shadow, along with Sonic the hedgehog and one of my students, were instrumental in restoring our communications grid."

 _"I see. Thank you for that. It seems Vale owes you a debt of gratitude."_ said Ironwood.

"Personally, I'm just glad the communications grid wasn't down for too long. Who knows what kind of chaos that might have brought." said Ozpin.

"General? May I ask you a question?"

Ironwood looked at the black Hedgehog. _"Certainly."_

"How protected is the hardware on the Atlesian Knights? The latest models, I mean."

 _"Are you asking if they can be infected with viruses?"_ Ironwood scoffed. _"That's preposterous. There's no way a virus could infect a Knight."_

"That's what I thought." Shadow pulled out his scroll. "Let's see you keep that stance. I'm sending you some footage of some of your Knights going berserk at a camping trip we went on not too long ago." The Hedgehog put his scroll in a slot next to the screen.

Ironwood looked at the data with interest. _"Hmm. It appears you're right. However, my main concern is this person that hijacked that Atlesian Paladin."_

Shadow took his scroll back. "We're looking into that. In the meantime, I suggest you take the time to make sure the hardware on the Knights is one hundred percent secure before you send out the next shipments. Plus, you should really pay attention to where you keep your Paladins."

Ironwood's eyes turned angry. _"Are you suggesting that the greatest military on Remnant is comprised of idiots who don't know what they're doing!?"_

Shadow shrugged, indifferent. "Hey, you said it, not me. And don't bother threatening me. I'm the Ultimate Life Form, and I'm used to difficult relations with the military on Mobius. Heck, they put a 'kill on sight' order on me once just for having a strange origin."

There was a tense pause. Suddenly, the general's expression changed from anger to amusement. _"Alright, I admit that I, too, sometimes question the intelligence of some of our ranks. I'll consult with the Ruling Council of Atlas to keep a closer eye on our property, as well as software patches for all androids."_

"That's all I ask. A sample of the virus is in the file I sent you, so you have something to experiment with. And General, for all your shortcomings, at least your military isn't colourblind."

Ironwood raised an eyebrow. _"Colourblind?"_

"Long story short, I did some things I regretted before becoming a hero, and Sonic got some of the blame."

Ironwood paused before responding. _"But you two are completely different colours, not to mention having different quill patterns!"_

"Believe me, I'm still having trouble seeing how they mixed us up that bad." Shadow responded dryly.

_"Well, it's been interesting talking with a being from another world. Give my regards to Glynda. Congratulations on your relationship, by the way."_

"Thank you, General."

The Headmaster turned his chair to Shadow as General Ironwood's call ended. "Do you really believe that upgrades to the software will really stop Doctor Eggman from hacking those Knights again?"

"I doubt it," Shadow replied. "Eggman is too smart to let something like a security upgrade get in his way. Besides, I don't think it was Eggman."

"Really?" Ozpin asked, intrigued. "Who, then?"

Shadow shook his head. "I honestly don't know. I can't think of anyone else with the capacity to both hack into a whole platoon of _Atlesian Knights_ and fight as well as he did in that _Paladin_. I'm gonna see if Fox Boy, Omega and I can find out the owner of that voice."

"Very well. Good luck in your search."

* * *

_Yarrgarita's  
_ _7:30 p.m._

"So, Sonic, how was it, being in cyberspace?" Pyrrha asked.

It was a busy night at the dance club. Most people seemed like they were there just to celebrate the fact that the communications blackout didn't end with the total destruction of Vale. Teams RWBY and JNPR decided to get something to eat there, as well as relax with the Mobians. Unfortunately, Shadow, Tails, and Omega couldn't come, as they were trying to follow up on who the mysterious person in the Paladin was. Once again, the holographic decoration on the table was replaced by the avatar of Aeromi. Zwei was sitting in Yang's lap, finishing up the remnants of her meal.

"It was pretty cool," answered Sonic, sipping a soda. "The sky was pretty dark, but the whole area was lit up with lights on pretty much everything. Shadow and I even got bodysuits with coloured lights on them- blue for me, red for Shadow."

"And my outfit had red lights, too!" said Ruby.

Aeromi pulled up pictures of Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby while they were in the digital realm.

"How come the cyberspace on Mobius doesn't work like that?" complained Rouge. "I would've liked to have a special set of clothes while fight the _Black Arms_ in cyberspace!"

"I think that the lights on your weapons were a nice touch." said Ren.

Sonic pulled out _Cobalt Shard._ "Shame that it couldn't have carried over into the real world. Oh well." Placing his sword back.

"You saved the city, though!" gushed Nora. "I'm jealous!"

Aeromi flashed a bit. "Uh, you okay, Aeromi?" asked Weiss.

" _I've received a message from Tali. I'll be back in a little bit._ " Aeromi disappeared briefly. When the A.I. reappeared, her expression was bleak. " _Guys, we have a huge problem._ "

"Roman Torchwick is attacking Beacon?" asked Yang.

"Eggman destroyed part of the border to Vale?" Blake chimed in.

Sonic couldn't help but ask, "The cake is a lie?"

"Team CFVY missed a sale, and Coco's on a rampage?"

The group looked at Rouge, eyebrows raised. "What? That girl is scary when she misses a sale."

"Or when a certain Bat tries to pickpocket her purse." mumbled Weiss.

Rouge held her hands up defensively. "Hey, how was I supposed to know that her purse hid a huge gun?"

Aeromi shook her head. " _This is bigger than that. The communications blackout was just a distraction._ "

"Distraction?" Jaune asked. "For what?"

" _Eggman has harvested the energy of Dralux._ "

Everyone at the table paled at the news. Even Zwei sensed that things weren't looking too good.

"No…" mumbled Silver. "We promised- no, _I_ promised King Mogar that dragon's energy wouldn't fall into the hands of evil. How can I face him now?" Blaze put a comforting hand on Silver's shoulder.

" _Well, you're in luck, Silver,_ " said Aeromi brightly. " _Apparently, King Mogar doesn't blame you for it._ "

Silver looked up. "... Really?"

" _Yup. He'll tell you how it happened when you get back. Mogar is tied to the sword he used to stop Dralux in the first place, and Tali sent it to your room._ "

"Still… All that power in Eggman's hands does warrant some worrying." said Amy.

"Should we just be worrying? How about downright panicking?" Jaune stuttered.

Knuckles spoke up. "Oh, relax, Jaune. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Only death, destruction, tragedy, and despair. And not necessarily in that order." Blake said gravely.

"Okay, never mind." the red Echidna sighed in defeat

"Guys, guys, chill out," said Sonic. "So what if Eggman manages to harness Dralux's energy? We'll beat him like we always do."

"And what is Dralux escapes and regains his form?" asked Silver.

Sonic flashed a grin. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time I kicked a 'Supreme' being's butt. Plus, I know I won't be alone in doing so."

"You got that right!" cheered Ruby.

Everyone sitting at the table nodded, while Zwei barked. Sonic suddenly had an idea. "In fact; Ruby, Team JNPR, c'mere for a few minutes."

"Does this mean we get to do a song?" Nora asked. Sonic just gave her a wink. Nora broke out into a grin and skipped happily to the stage, with Sonic, Ren, and Pyrrha following her.

"I have a question, Yang," said Weiss. "How come we never do this at that nightclub you went to before you met us?"

"Junior's? Pssh, I think they're still rebuilding from my last visit. Besides," Yang continued, looking lovingly at Zwei, "they don't allow animals in there."

The conversation was cut short as Sonic and Ruby started singing, with Ren on bass, Nora on the drum kit, Jaune and Pyrrha on keyboards and backup vocals, and Ruby and Sonic on vocals and electric guitars.

_Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams-I May Fall_

**Ruby and Sonic: There's a day when all hearts will be broken**

**When a shadow will cast out the light**

**And our eyes cry a million tears**

**Help won't arrive**

Sonic started a brief vocal solo here, with Ruby following soon after with a solo of her own.

**Sonic: There's a day when all courage collapses**

**And our friends turn and leave us behind**

**Ruby: Creatures of darkness will triumph**

**The sun won't rise**

Sonic and Ruby joined their voices together again, creating a very nice melody. The crowd in the bar cheered at the impromptu band.

**Sonic and Ruby: When we've lost all hope**

**And succumb to fear**

**As the skies rain blood**

**And the end draws near**

Jaune and Pyrrha did a brief keyboard solo before joining in the singing.

**Everyone: I may fall**

**Ruby: But not like this-it won't be by your hand**

**(I may fall)**

**Pyrrha: Not this place, not today**

**(I may fall)**

**Ruby and Pyrrha: Bring it all-it's not enough to take me down**

**I may fall**

"Sing it, lovebirds!" Sonic shouted. The young warriors nodded as they took their microphones.

**Jaune and Pyrrha: There's a place where we'll stand outnumbered**

**Where the wolves and the soul-less will rise**

**In the time of our final moments**

**Every dream dies**

**Jaune: There's a place where our shields will lay shattered**

**And the fear's all that's left in our hearts**

**Pyrrha: Strength and our courage have run out**

**We fall apart**

As they sang, Jaune couldn't help but feel lucky to have a woman like Pyrrha by his side- not just singing, but in life in general.

**Jaune and Pyrrha: When we lose our faith**

**And forsake our friends**

**When the moon is gone**

**And we reach our end**

**Everyone: I may fall!**

Sonic went into a guitar solo here, really getting into the rhythm. When his solo was almost done, Ruby signalled Team JNPR to stop playing their instruments.

**Sonic: There's a moment that changes a life when**

**We do something that no one else can**

**Ruby: And the path that we've taken will lead us**

**One final stand**

Everyone resumed at this point, playing the song with renewed energy.

**Sonic: There's a moment we make a decision**

**Not to cower and crash to the ground**

**Ruby: The moment we face our worst demons**

**Our courage found**

**Sonic and Ruby: When we stand with friends**

**And we won't retreat**

**As we stare down death**

**Then the taste is sweet**

**Everyone: I may fall**

**Ruby: But not like this -it won't be by your hand**

**(I may fall)**

**Pyrrha: Not this place, not today**

**(I may fall)**

**Ruby and Pyrrha: Bring it all-it's not enough to take me down**

**I may fall**

**I may fall**

**I may fall**

**Ruby: I may, I may**

**Fall**

As the song ended, everyone cheered once again. Sonic and Ruby hi-fived, while Jaune and Pyrrha kissed each other. Ren and Nora just looked on, smiling at their leader and friends.

"Well, that was fun. Too bad Tails, Shadow, and Omega couldn't come." Amy said.

"I think that what they're doing is going to help us in the long run," Rouge responded. "Besides, we really do need to find out who that guy that attacked us was."

* * *

_Beacon Academy  
_ _8:00 p.m._

"Come on, that voice has got to belong to someone we know!" shouted Shadow in frustration.

He, Omega, and Tails were still up trying to figure out who attacked them at the mountain ruins. Omega had recorded a portion of the conversation between the voice in the Paladin and Sonic, and tried comparing them to voice tracks from engagements with previous enemies both from Mobius and Remnant. So far, they had no luck in determining the person's identity.

"We've tried everyone we know, Shadow. Heck, Omega somehow even had a fragment of conversation from this _Mephiles the Dark_ character, and it still wasn't him!" Tail responded in exasperation.

Shadow put a hand to his forehead. "Maybe Eggman made a clone out of one of us, and it somehow got loose."

"EGGMAN RARELY CREATES ORGANIC BEINGS," said Omega. "ROBOTS ARE MORE EFFICIENT TO CREATE."

"Okay, a robot clone, then." Shadow paused, his quills standing up straighter than usual. "Wait… Omega, play audio track 87B."

Omega brought up a screen with the voice wavelength of the mystery person. On the right, a screen showed a voice track from an encounter that took place a few years earlier.

" _All living things, kneel before your master!"_

The screen gained a green background followed by a musical tone, indicating a match, the first one all evening.

Shadow, Tails, and Omega stood in silence, reeling at the implications of what they just heard.

"Welp," Tails said after a while, "Sonic won't like to hear this."


	37. Third Enemy

_Beacon Academy workshop  
_ _4:15 p.m._

After classes, Teams RWBY and JNPR was planning to just kick back and relax after a hard day. However, Tails requested their presence. Thinking it was probably more important than researching the different variants of Dust crystals (and because Weiss was their resident Dust expert), they went ahead and joined the Mobians. Silver came a little later due to carrying a long package.

"All right, we've all got some news we need to share with each other," Sonic began. "Silver, go ahead and share what I think everyone knows, but we'll say anyway, just to be on the same page."

Silver nodded and took King Mogar's diamond sword out of the package and placed it on a table. "All right, Your Highness, come out and meet everyone."

A small bright ball floated out of the sword and flashed once, taking the form of the Faunus king. **_"Greetings, mortals of various races… Wow, and I thought that Silver was a strange colour."_**

The reactions of the group were varied; Jaune leapt out of his seat and into Pyrrha's arms, Yang prepped _Ember Celia_ for a fight, and Blake put a hand on _Gambol Shroud_. Everyone else nodded in respect. When Jaune, Yang, and Blake saw that the ghost wasn't going to harm them, they apologised profusely.

 ** _"Oh, don't worry about it,"_** Mogar said. ** _"Your reactions are actually better than what I expected. Now that it's out of the way-"_**

"Hold on a sec," interrupted Tails. He wheeled up a few gauges on a cart. "Forgive me, but I need to check if this really is 'King Mogar', and not some holographic trap set up by the White Fang."

Mogar had to ask, **_"_** ** _What's the fox with two tails doing?"_**

"Relax, Your Highness. Tails is a child genius, and, well, to be honest, we haven't dealt with many ghosts." said Silver.

"He isn't wrong," said Sonic. "Between all of us from Mobius, we've only had three adventures where we encountered ghosts."

"You've seen ghosts before?" asked Ruby.

"The event following Shadow's awakening, the Haunted Mansion during the _Metal Sonic crisis_ …" Knuckles counted. "Wait, what's the third one?"

"It was during the _Dark Gaia disaster_. I'll tell you about it another time." said Sonic.

"Wait, wasn't Tikal a ghost or something along those lines?" asked Amy.

"She was more like someone whose spirit was trapped with the _Master Emerald_." Knuckles explained.

"So…. She was a ghost?" wondered Ren.

Knuckles shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

Tails checked the gauges on the sword, then the ghostly figure. "High psychic signature, unknown energy readings, no electronics implanted on the sword…" he mumbled to himself.

"So, what's the verdict, Tails?" Blake wondered.

Tails faced the group. "He's a ghost, no doubts about it." he confirmed. He gestured to Silver, letting him resume his introduction.

"Okay, for anyone who doesn't know yet, this is King Mogar. He was the warrior king that first vanquished _Dralux_ , the largest Creature of Grimm to walk Remnant," Silver informed. "Mogar, we heard from Tali Williams that the White Fang has successfully taken the energy of Dralux from your tomb in the mountains."

**_"That's correct. And Silver, before you get all remorseful that you weren't able to protect my tomb, let me say something. From what brave Miss Williams told me, the town of Vale was the victim of- what was it?"_ **

"A communications blackout." supplied Tails.

 ** _"Ah, thank you. Tali said that the blackout cut Vale off from the rest of Remnant, so there was no way you could have known about the White Fang infiltration. If anything, I'm mad at the White Fang and their masters for potentially destroying the world."_** He pointed at his bear ears. **_"I realize that the Faunus' situation hasn't changed that much from when I was alive and a king, but to destroy the world? Bah! The White Fang are comprised of some the worst examples of Faunus I have ever seen!"_**

"They just feel what they're doing is the right thing," said Blake solemnly while removing her bow. She revealed her cat ears to the ghost. "As an ex-member of the White Fang myself, I would like to say that it wasn't all bad before. It was a change of leadership that caused them to act this way, and the reason why I left."

Tails put a comforting hand on Blake's shoulder. "At any rate, at least you know there are some Faunus who are working for a better future that don't bring themselves down to the White Fang's level." the young kitsune said.

"Got that right!"

The doors to the workshop opened, and Sun Wukong entered. "'Sup, guys? Blake, lookin' good as always. Oh, hey, who are you?" he asked, noticed the ghostly figure. Thankfully, he didn't notice Blake blushing at his compliment.

**_"I'm King Mogar."_ **

"Who?"

Sonic and the others quickly filled Sun in on who the ghost was, and why he was here.

"Okay, cool. Your Highness, I'm Sun Wukong, a friend of these guys."

**_"Charmed."_ **

"I hate to add on to the bleak mood," interrupted Shadow, "But we figured out who attacked us when we were at the ruins."

"Great!" exclaimed Yang. "Who was it?"

"It just so happens to be someone from our world, and he hates Sonic- more than Doctor Eggman does."

"Pssh, that's absurd. Who could hate me more than Eggman? I mean, I know some of you guys used to hate me." Sonic said dismissively.

Shadow shook his head. "Not to the extent of this guy."

The black Hedgehog pulled up a screen that showed all the suspects he, Omega, and Tails tested. He touched a picture, and it expanded, showing the only positive result.

The picture was of a blue Hedgehog, but it wasn't Sonic. This Hedgehog had red eyes instead of green, and there was one other small, almost insignificant difference: he was a robot.

"Who, er, what is that?" asked Ruby.

Sonic answered her, voice wavering slightly. "That's _Hyper_ _Metal Sonic_."

"Metal was created by Doctor Eggman many years ago, while he was still going by his true name, Doctor Robotnik," explained Tails. "He was designed to match Sonic's traits, mostly, his speed."

"Oh, I remember those days," said Amy dreamily. "That's when I first met Sonic! He rescued me from that fake Hedgehog many times!"

"Yup. That was when it was just Sonic and I, fighting robots and saving the world," said Tails. "It wasn't until Shadow's reawakening that we fought Metal Sonic once more." He pulled up a picture of _Metal Overlord_.

"What is that?" Nora cooed, looking at the robotic dragon.

"You remember _Chaos_ , right?" asked Sonic.

Teams RWBY and JNPR nodded, remembering Sonic informing them of his adventure around the water-like being.

"Well, Metal Sonic found a way to copy our lifeform data and that of a few others to create that form. It took all our combined powers to defeat him."

"By 'our' combined powers, he means those of Teams _Sonic, Rose, Dark,_ and _Chaotix_." Rouge corrected.

"Okay, so why all this history?" asked Jaune.

"Simply put, the mystery person that ruined our camping trip is Metal Sonic." concluded Shadow.

There was a brief pause as everyone let that information sink in. Tails was especially concerned for his adopted bro's reaction.

"Well," said Sonic, "At least it's not _Mephiles the Dark_. I don't fancy getting killed by him again." The blue Hedgehog shuddered at the memory.

"As if Torchwick joining with Eggman wasn't bad enough, now we have to deal with Metal Sonic, too?" growled Knuckles. "Why can't that guy just stay destroyed!?"

Omega stepped forward. "MOST PROBABLE CAUSE OF METAL SONIC FUNCTIONING ONCE AGAIN: BITS OF _DUST_ WERE ABLE TO RE-ENERGISE HIS SYSTEMS."

"Great."

Any further comment about Metal Sonic was interrupted by a frantic beeping from Tails' _Miles Electric_. He touched an icon on his computer pad, and a map of Remnant opened up.

"Guys, good news." he called out.

Silver sighed in relief. "And I was prepared to listen to bad news all day."

"I finally figured out the location of another _Chaos Emerald_!"

Tails dragged his hand across the screen of his tablet. This caused the image to be transferred to the larger screen, which replaced the menacing picture of Metal Sonic.

"According to the detector, there seems to be an energy reading identical to a _Chaos Emerald_ somewhere… here!"

Tails pointed at a place just outside the kingdom. The location on the map depicted a large forest filled with trees with red leave, no matter what the season was.

"The _Forest of Forever Fall_ , huh?" mused Weiss.

 ** _"So that's what you call it these days, is it?"_** asked Mogar.

"Why, what was the name in your time?"

Mogar grinned. **_"It was the same name. It's nice to see that out of all the horrible things that are constant in this world, that beautiful forest is still there."_**

"I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not sure all of us can go," said Weiss. "We've already missed several classes thanks to the shenanigans of Torchwick and Eggface."

"The what?" asked Ruby. Weiss ignored her and continued.

"We might have to sit this one out, even though we really should help you find those Emeralds."

Shadow nodded. "I understand your concern. You guys should focus on your classes. We'll handle getting the _Chaos Emerald_."

"Aw, man." whined Nora.

"But that leaves the question: which one of us should go?" asked Blaze. She pointed at a series of numbers on the screen. "The coordinates say that the Emerald is underground."

Knuckles stepped up. "If it's underground, I can locate it easily." Grinning, he activated _Clan Claw_ , the blades glinting in the light of the room.

"Yeah, um, I might have to make some changes to your weapon if you're going." said Tails, sweatdropping at the echidna's antics.

"Why's that?"

"Well, those claws aren't that good for digging. I'll have to integrate a _'shovel claw'_ mode. Kinda wish I'd thought about that earlier." the fox said sheepishly.

The echidna looked at his gauntlets, shrugged, and removed them. "Do what you have to do, buddy."

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to pass up this Emerald," said Sonic. "I promised Ruby to help fine-tune her _Homing Chain_."

"What? A human, doing a Homing Chain?" Rouge scoffed in disbelief.

"Hey, I saw her do it in the Digital Realm. She has the potential. She just needs a little help."

"Ooh, can I join you?" asked Amy excitedly. "I still haven't mastered my homing chain, yet!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You just want to use this opportunity to get closer to me."

"... What's your point?"

"Oh, come on, Sonic," said Ruby. "Amy can help me, too."

"Fine."

"Okay, so who else is going besides Knuckles?" asked Yang.

Tails thought about it. "Probably Team Dark-"

"Very well." "I can't wait to get my hands on that beautiful gem!" "ANNIHILATION!"

"- and maybe someone we know who isn't a Mobian but can move around without difficulty."  
"Dude, I'm in!" Sun Wukong volunteered. "I've got nothing better to do, anyways."

"Alright. I'll talk to Professor Ozpin about loaning us an airship ride in a few days."

As the group broke up, Tails couldn't help but wonder about Metal Sonic and if he had retrieved a _Chaos Emerald_. If he had, then their Emerald hunt would be a lot more difficult.

* * *

Deep underground, there was a soft glowing in the darkness of the caves underneath the Forest of Forever Fall.

Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of a Creep. This bipedal Creature of Grimm walked up to the _Chaos Emerald_ and sniffed it curiously. It then somehow thought that the crystal would make a meal, and ate it, swallowing it whole.

Because of the huge amount of energy in an Emerald, it caused the Creep to become huge. Even more surprising, it grew two more legs to help support it's weight. The Creep roared, a huge stream of fire pouring out of it's mouth.

The Mobian's _Chaos Emerald_ Hunt did indeed become more difficult; just not in the way they expected.


	38. Teaching & Excavating

_Airship en route to Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _9:45 A.M._

An interesting team was assembled on the airship sent to retrieve the _Chaos Emerald_. It consisted of Team Dark, Knuckles, Sun Wukong, and Neptune Vasilias. Neptune was a last-minute addition (at Sun's insistence), but the rest of the guys went with it.

"So tell me again, what's the big deal about these _Chaos Emeralds_?" asked Neptune, shouting slightly over the sound of the engines. "Are they similar to _Dust_ crystals?"

"They are, yet they aren't, hon," answered Rouge. "The seven _Chaos Emeralds_ are a Mobius exclusive, and they have a variety of uses."

"Like what?"

Shadow turned towards the blue-haired youth. "They can give machines and creatures a power boost like no other, if properly utilized. The _Eclipse Cannon_ on _Space Colony ARK_ was powered by the _Chaos Emeralds_ , and just six of them destroyed half of the moon. One of the more bizarre uses I've was to energise temples into a large golem used to defeat the entity known as _Dark Gaia_."

"The _Chaos Emeralds_ even have the power to bring back the dead." said Rouge, remembering how Sonic was revived during the _Soleanna crisis_. Neptune whistled, impressed.

"Even the Emeralds can contain god-like beings and entities, such as _Nazo, Bedlam, Enerjak,_ and _Chaos_ , just to name a few." the black Hedgehog referenced, thinking back to _Nazo disaster, Moderator battle_ and _Enerjak Knuckles phase._

"That reminds me," interjected Knuckles. "What the heck happened to this world's moon? It's been buggin' me for a while, now."

"That's a mystery to all of us, too," Sun responded. He was leaning out the side of the airship with only a hand and his tail keeping him from falling out. "There's a pretty common theory that says that the moon was hit by a meteor, but if that was the case, how come the pieces of it are still floating above the surface?"

"ADOLESCENT WITH SIMIAN LIMB'S REASONING IS CORRECT," droned Omega. "METEOR THEORY NOT SUPPORTED BY FRAGMENTS' POSITIONS."

"Shadow the Hedgehog, sir?" the pilot called out. "We're nearing the drop point, but there are a lot of Grimm nearby. Get ready to jump."

"Roger that. We'll contact you when we have our objective complete. Until then, stay at a safe distance." Shadow walked from the cockpit back to the assembled beings. "Alright, change of plans. We're gonna have to jump."

The airship banked over a small clearing in the red forest. "Hey guys, let's find out who can pull their chutes at the closest possible time." Neptune dared, putting on his goggles.

"You're on!" shouted Sun. He and Neptune bumped fists before jumping out. The Mobians followed suit, though they didn't bother with parachutes.

Knuckles and Rouge descended to the ground smoothly using their quills and wings, respectively. Shadow dove headfirst, flipping at a certain point before activating his jet shoes. Omega just shifted his parts to resemble a large ball before slamming into the ground, creating a sizable crater before he changed back to normal.

When Sun was about ten feet from the ground, he pulled his chute, gliding smoothly before stopping.

"Hey Neptune, I pulled ten feet above the ground!" he shouted triumphantly. He looked around after not hearing a response. "Neptune?"

"Up here," a voice grumbled. Sun and the Mobians looked up to see Neptune hanging from his feet, his parachute snagged in a few branches. "Let's just say my number was tree."

"Gee, honey, you aren't gonna impress the Ice Queen like that." teased Rouge.

Neptune grimaced, probably to hide his embarrassment. "Could someone just get me down from here?"

"I'll do it." Knuckles volunteered. He studied the branches that Neptune was attached to, then walked to the tree that was the owner of said branches. He held a fist back, then punched the trunk. This caused Neptune to be shaken out, and he fell on a small pile of leaves.

"Ow!" he shouted in pain. He wasn't hurt that much, but he did just fall out of a tree.

"Hey, at least you got out of the tree, dude," said Sun. He pulled out _Ruyi Bang_ and _Jingu Bang_ in staff form. "Alright, Shads, where do we go from here?"

Shadow pulled out the _Chaos Emerald_ locator. "We need to go about two miles south. I'm on point. Omega, watch our backs. Rouge, aerial reconnaissance. I don't want anything sneaking up on us."

"So, to put it in layman's terms, kill every evil animal we see?" asked Knuckles.

"Exactly." To emphasize his point, Shadow whipped out _Crimson Dusk_ in katana form and stabbed deep into a nearby bush just behind him. When he pulled his sword back, it had a coat of blood on it, and an unfortunate Boarbatusk rolled out, dead.

"Whoa. How did know that a Creature of Grimm was right there?" asked Neptune in awe.

Shadow did a double take at the dead Grimm. "Okay, I'll be honest with you guys, I didn't know that creature was there," he said, genuinely surprised. The hedgehog stared a bit longer, then shrugged and cleaned the blade before transitioning to gun mode. "Now that that's out of the way, let's move."

* * *

_Beacon Academy  
_ _10:00 A.M._

"Alright Ruby, try to do your Homing Chain attack again."

Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Ruby were currently in the shooting range, trying to recreate Ruby's Homing Chain that she used in Remnant's Digital Realm. They had made good progress, but they did want to see how far the redhead could go with this new ability of hers.

Ruby, with a determined expression on her face and _Crescent Rose_ in her hands, shot at the ground, sending her up. She then fired behind her, launching herself forward. Her boots landed on a flying drone Tails had built for this session, and her momentum crushed it. Jumping off of the drone, she then repeated the move on a second drone about ten feet away. However, when she tried the same thing on a third drone much farther away, she missed, and ended up crashing on the ground.

Sonic winced at the wipeout. "Ouch, that's gotta hurt."

"I'm okay!" said Ruby, standing up quickly. She shook her head, which had two purposes: it cleared up her thought processes, and it got rid of a few bits of grass in her hair.

Tails pressed a button on his _Miles Electric_ , which caused the drones that Ruby smashed repair themselves for the next attempt.

"Well, Ruby, any thoughts as to why you crashed?" asked Sonic.

"I really don't know, Sonic. I was aiming right at the drone." said Ruby, slightly frustrated. They had been at this stage for a while now, and it seemed no matter what Ruby did, she couldn't hit that last drone.

"Aha!" Amy shouted. "I think I know what you need to do!"

"What's that, Ames?" asked Sonic, curious about what the pink Hedgehog had come up with.

Amy strutted up to the starting position. "Just watch and learn, Ruby."

Ruby and Sonic exchanged glances as Tails set the drones up again. Amy leapt up and spin-dashed the first drone, then the second, much like Ruby's attempt. However, for the third drone Amy aimed a little above the third drone. This resulted in her hitting the drone perfectly, and she landed smoothly on her feet, doing a little curtsy.

"Wow, that was so cool!" gushed Ruby. "How did you do that?!"

"Well, Ruby," Amy began, "I may be a fast Hedgehog, but I'm not nearly as fast as Sonic." In the background, the Blue Blur struck a pose. "As a result, gravity affects me sooner. To compensate, I aim just above the target so I can actually hit it."

"Hmm…" Ruby pondered this bit of information. "So you think that if I do what you did, I'd be able to hit enemies that are further away?"

"Hey, it's worth a shot!" said Sonic encouragingly. Tails reset the drones again as Ruby took the starting position. "Ready... Go!"

Ruby took out the first two drones with ease, but when she focused on the third drone, she aimed _Crescent Rose_ slightly lower than she had been aiming before. The result was exactly as she had hoped for. The arc of her flight from the second drone hit the third one dead center, and she flipped off, landing perfectly.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails clapped at her success. "Excellent job, Ruby!"

Ruby put away her scythe, grinning widely. "Thanks, guys! Maybe things will be a little bit easier for us now!"

"That reminds me, I wonder how the others are doing."

* * *

_Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _10:30 a.m._

"How much further is it, Shadow?" asked Sun. The group had walked a ways, following the signal of the _Chaos Emerald_. Fortunately, they didn't run into any Creatures of Grimm along the way, but they were still on guard.

The Black Blur checked the detector. "We're about four hundred feet away," he answered Sun. "However, the readings still indicated it's underground, about two hundred feet."

Knuckles also checked the detector. He then cracked his namesakes. "Well, then, I think that it's my time to shine." He activated _Clan Claw_ , revealing the wrist blades, then he pushed a button on the side, turning the weapon into something very similar to his old _Shovel Claws_. The echidna then knelt down and started to dig into the ground.

"Why are you digging now?" asked Neptune, dodging a piece of sod.

"Listen, kid. If there's one rule of treasure hunting, it's never to dig straight down," said Knuckles. "If I were to dig for the Emerald at the spot where it's located, how are we all gonna get out? I mean, no offense, but could you climb a relatively smooth rock wall for two hundred feet?"

Neptune thought about it. "Okay, you have a point."

"Right. No offense, but shut up and let me work."

"C'mon, Neptune," said Sun. "Let's let the echidna do his thing."

There wasn't much to do while Knuckles dug to the Emerald. Omega did some experimenting with his weapons by configuring his current ones in new- and lethal- forms, while Shadow sharpened the blade of _Crimson Dusk_. Neptune took over for Rouge in keeping watch. In the meantime, the white Bat kept herself busy typing things on her scroll while hanging upside down from a tree. Sun appeared near her, also hanging upside down. "Hey, Rouge, you got a minute?"

Rouge looked at the hole that Knuckles was digging. He was about a quarter of the way there, but it looked like it was going to be a while before he found anything. "Yeah, I've got time. So what's up? Besides us, of course."

Sun grinned. "I take it you noticed my friend's interest in the Ice Queen, right?"

"I can tell that it's mutual, but don't tell Weiss I said that."

"Really? Weiss likes Neptune?"

Rouge chuckled. "I've read her diary. She's definitely got the hots for him. But something tells me this isn't about him. You're wondering if the kitty likes you, right?"

"Hey, don't spread that little tidbit around. I got a reputation to keep, after all."

"My lips are sealed, Monkey Boy."

Sun faced the Bat, a serious and slightly nervous expression on his face. "In all seriousness, does Blake like me?"

Rouge thought about it. "I have seen that Blake is attracted to you."

Sun pumped his fist in victory. "Yes! I thought she liked me."

"Want me to set you two up on a date, hon?" the bat asked, winking.

Sun shook his head. "Nah, I got this. Thanks for the offer, though."

The two observed the rather large hole that Knuckles had dug. "You think he's getting tired?" the Faunus asked.

"Probably not. Still, maybe we should check if he needs anything."

At that point, Knuckles came walking out of the hole. "Hey, guys? Did we remember to bring flashlights?"

"I'm pretty sure all of us has a flashlight function on our weapons except you. Why do you ask?" wondered Shadow. "More importantly, why did you stop?"

Knuckles grabbed a bottle of water and drank the whole thing before answering. "Okay, I've dug maybe halfway there, but we've got a problem."

"THE ONLY PROBLEM VISIBLE IS THE ABSENCE OF A _CHAOS EMERALD_ IN OUR POSSESSION."

The Echidna faced Omega, rolling his purple eyes. "Oh, har, har, very funny. Anyways, I've found something you should see."

Everyone followed Knuckles as he led the way through the Echidna-made tunnel. He stopped just before the end was visible. "Alright, what're we supposed to be looking for?" asked Neptune.

"Look down."

The group followed his directions. Right at the area where the Echidna stopped digging, an opening about five feet across was visible. When Shadow peered down into it, he saw only blackness. He then faced everyone else.

"Rouge, call Tails. We're goin' cave exploring, and we don't have the right equipment with us."

Rouge nodded, but when she turned back to the entrance of the tunnel, the ground shook beneath them. A large crack appeared on the floor, then it broke away, carrying everyone with them.

"Hold on!" Shadow shouted. He felt a sharp pain on his head, then saw stars as he blacked out.


	39. Mines below Forever Fall

The existence of caves beneath the _Forest of Forever Fall_ is a long forgotten secret. Long ago, before the Four Kingdoms were established, ancient Humans and Faunus delved deep down into the hills, mining for _Dust_. Naturally, mining was dangerous work, like it is in the present time. However, that wasn't the reason why it was forgotten.

Simply put, there wasn't anyone left TO remember it.

Greed and a disregard for safety drove an ancient town to dig deep in order to earn prestige among the other surrounding towns. This resulted in the discovery of natural caverns- and subterranean _Creatures of Grimm_. The resulting massacre killed off all who mined for that precious material.

Easy pickings for the surface Grimm.

Ironically, the men sent down into the mines were probably the only ones who could have prevented the tragedy that befell their home. The sudden rise of negative emotions was too great for the Grimm to resist, and they flooded the village. The town was overrun, the buildings destroyed, and the people slaughtered. The neighboring villages just wrote it off as another lesson about not building a permanent residence in a defensible area.

The mines themselves still exist, but the entrances were closed off, preventing the Grimm from reaching the surface. Even today, those Grimm still roam the empty mineshafts, searching for blood to quench their thirst.

It is a virtual deathtrap.

* * *

_Caverns below the Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _11:30 a.m._

"Ow…."

Sun Wukong came to first, shaking his head. "Alright, who else isn't dead? Sound off!"

A chorus of groans reached his ears. All of them were knocked unconscious by the sudden collapse into an undiscovered cave, but were recovering in their own way. Sun lit up a flare, revealing everyone.

A blue haired form was seen stumbling around. "Could you stop the room, pleeeaaase?" slurred Neptune, his eyes turned into anime spirals. "I'd like to get off now." He then crashed into a wall, and that set his senses straight.

"I think my left shoulder is dislocated." Knuckles said uncomfortably. The echidna pulled on it with his right hand, and with an audible _*POP*_ , set it back in its socket. "Never mind, I'm good."

"I AM FUNCTIONING AT OPTIMUM CAPACITY." droned Omega.

Shadow helped Rouge up. "You okay?" he asked with concern.

"I think so," the Bat said, wincing a bit. She tried flexing her wings, but couldn't due to a slight bend in her right wing. "Aw, man. I think I'm grounded, boys."

"WILL THAT HINDER YOUR ABILITY TO FIGHT, COMRADE ROUGE?" the robot asked.

"Allow me," said Knuckles. He carefully placed his hands along the affected wing, feeling her injury. Rouge was hurting, but she trusted Knuckles. "Well, I've got good news and bad news."

"What is it?"

"The good news is that your wing isn't permanently damaged. The bad news is that you won't be able to fly out of here anytime soon. Fortunately," the Echidna said, looking at their surroundings, "it doesn't look like you'd be missing much. The walls of this cave are too close to fly around in."

"I can't get a signal out to the rest of the guys, either." said Neptune.

"So, to summarize: We're trapped in here with no supplies, we can't call for help, and one of our team is injured." said Sun.

"Pretty much, but we must remember our objective- to find the _Chaos Emerald_ ," proclaimed Shadow. He reached into his quills and pulled the _Chaos Emerald detector_ out. Miraculously, it was still working. "According to this, we only need to go about two hundred feet that way to reach it." he said, pointing down the tunnel in the appropriate direction.

"Will you be able to fight, Rouge?" Sun asked. "Caves in Remnant are always filled with Grimm, in my experience."

The white Bat just smiled as she pulled out _Lovacs_. "Just try and stop me!" she said, her pistols gleaming in the light of the flare.

"What about your wing?" wondered Neptune.

"Kid, there's one thing about Mobians you'll need to know if you want to hang with us," Knuckles responded, grinning. "Besides being able to breathe in a vacuum, we heal fast. Rouge's wing should be healed up by the time we're through here."

"Alright, then. Let's get that Emerald so we can get the heck out of here." said Shadow.

As the group walked to their quarry, Omega couldn't help but feel like they were being watched. No matter how many diagnostics he ran on himself, he couldn't shake the feeling, nor dismiss it.

"What is this place?" asked Knuckles. Looking around, he saw that the tunnel was really a mineshaft. Rotting timbers still held up the walls and ceiling, and they could feel minecart tracks on the ground.

"Beats me," said Neptune. He saw the tattered remains of clothing on the floor below a large claw mark. "But it looks like nothing good happened here."

"Quiet." hushed Shadow.

They walked on in silence, getting closer to their goal. As they rounded a corner, they spotted a faint glow coming from a minecart.

"That's the Emerald!" cried Rouge, rushing ahead. "Come to momma!" Her advance was stopped by Sun, who held out a hand.

"Easy there, Lady Thief," he said. "If I'm keeping track right, you guys have the _green_ , _cyan_ , _red_ , and _blue_ _Chaos Emeralds_ , right?"

"CORRECT." Omega confirmed emotionlessly, though he was secretly impressed that Sun had kept up with what they did and didn't have. "AND SINCE THERE ARE ONLY SEVEN EMERALDS, ALL A DIFFERENT COLOUR, THAT LEAVES THE _YELLOW_ , _PURPLE_ , AND _WHITE_ EMERALDS."

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a green glow?" the Faunus asked.

Upon closer inspection, the glowing in question was indeed caused by a jewel, just not the kind of jewel they were looking for.

" _Dust crystals_?" wondered Rouge. Indeed, the minecart was filled to the brim with uncut Dust crystals of all colours, not just green. "Well, don't mind if I do." she hummed to herself as she pocketed a few crystals.

"Well, that confirms that this was once a _Dust_ mine," said Sun. "Run by the Ice Queen's ancestors, perhaps."

Neptune looked at the side of the cart, which had the symbol of the town that was mentioned earlier. "I don't know, this doesn't look like any snowflake I've seen." Indeed, the symbol looked more like an eagle instead of the _Schnee Dust Company_ logo.

"Come on, let's move." Shadow said impatiently.

"FURTHER RESEARCH WILL HAVE TO BE DONE AT A LATER POINT." agreed Omega.

The group reluctantly moved on, still walking carefully among the piles of old clothes. "Hey, does anyone else smell something burning?" Sun asked.

"I do," said Knuckles uneasily. The rest of the Mobians picked up the scent, as well.

"OLFACTORY SENSORS CONFIRM GASES ASSOCIATED WITH COMBUSTION. POST-NOTE: CONCENTRATION OF GASES SUGGEST RECENT ACTIVITY." Omega said.

"What'd he say?"

"He said that the burning is new, and not related to the mines," Shadow translated for Neptune. He checked the detector again. "Okay, the _Chaos Emerald_ is very close, but stay sharp. I don't think we're alone down here."

The group resumed walking down the halls until they got to an opening. Passing through the entrance, they all stopped in shock.

"What ARE those things?" asked Rouge, a slight tremble of fear in her voice.

In the clearing were many Creatures of Grimm known as _Creeps_. One of them looked up at the newcomers, then roared. Instantly, all eyes were upon the group.

"I don't like the looks of this," said Sun, readying _Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang_.

Shadow looked into the throng of Grimm, searching for the _Chaos Emerald_. "Come on, where is it?!" he shouted in frustration. "The detector says it's right here!"

"I guess we'll have to clean house first." snarled Knuckles, activating his weapons wrist blades.

"Well, at least this situation isn't going to get any worse." chuckled Neptune nervously, gripping his gun.

As if to mock him, a loud roar was heard at the back of the opening. A river of fire tore through the gathered Grimm, burning them to a crisp. The ground shook as the source of the flames walked closer to the group.

The monster in question resembled a Creep, but it was massive. Omega's automatic distance measures kicked in, and he saw that it was twenty feet high, and forty in length. It's head was covered in white plates, like all Grimm have. On it's back, there were many bone-like protrusions that doubled as armour for it's black body. Even more interesting was the presence of two extra legs. Omega quickly searched for this monster in a database of known Creatures of Grimm, but came up blank. This was a different kind of Grimm altogether.

"Why'd you have to say that 'it couldn't get any worse'?" Sun groaned.

The monster roared again and charged at them.


	40. Grimm Defeats

_Forever Fall mines  
_ _12:00 p.m._

"MOVE!" shouted Shadow as the _King Creep_ charged the group. Everyone ran out of the way just in time as the huge Creature of Grimm crashed into the wall.

"What a perfect time for my wings to not work!" growled Rouge as she fired her pistols at the monster. Not surprisingly, the bullets didn't have much of an effect on the monster.

Neptune took out his gun and started shooting the beast. The rounds from his gun just ricocheted off of its thick hide, and Neptune barely got out of the way as the King Creep blasted fire in his direction.

"THIS GRIMM'S POWER IS INCONCEIVABLE," Omega said while shooting his machine guns. "DETECTING ADDITIONAL POWER SOURCE INSIDE BEAST."

"Additional power?" wondered Shadow. He quickly checked the _Chaos Emerald Detector_. The radar showed the Emerald was right on top of them. From there, he deduced that the _Chaos Emerald_ wasn't just near them, it was- "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me."

Any further comment was interrupted as he dashed out of the way of a large foot. He was about to be stomped on again, but Sun whacked it out of the way with _Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang,_ which he transformed into nunchuk pistols.

"Is it really necessary for us to fight this thing?" he asked. "I mean, we could just get the _Chaos Emerald_ and leave this guy alone, right?"

Knuckles chose that moment to pop his head out of the ground. "If only it were that simple, monkey boy," he said. "I'm sensing the _Chaos Emerald_ INSIDE the beast."

Sun did a double take at the Grimm upon hearing this. "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me."

"That's what I said." the Hedgehog responded, sweatdropping.

"I don't think I follow." said Neptune as he dodged a tail swipe from the beast.

Shadow pointed at the _King Creep_. "That creature has swallowed the _Chaos Emerald_ , and this size change is the result of a huge power infusion."

"Are you saying these gems will work for anybody and anything?" asked Sun in dismay.

Knuckles grimaced. "Pretty much. The _Chaos Emeralds_ don't discriminate on who- or apparently what- gets to have their power, but they do have limits to an extent."

The _King Creep_ roared again and tried to stomp Rouge. She caught the foot with her left boot, and used the pistol on it, knocking the creature back. "So how do we stop it?" she yelled. "I can't exactly fly up there and blow it's brains out, my wing is still busted!"

"I've got an idea!" shouted Shadow. "Rouge, pass me those _Dust crystals_ you picked up!"

"What makes you think I picked up any?" asked Rouge indignantly.

"Come on, we're in a mine, and I saw you swipe a few!" Shadow retorted. "If you want to live, don't argue with me!"

"Oh, fine," the white Bat said, resignation in her voice. As Shadow skated past her, she threw him the _Dust crystals_ she picked up. "I want to be reimbursed for this!" she said as he caught them.

"Rouge, we're in this for a _Chaos Emerald_!" Neptune interjected.

"Everyone, do as much damage as you can. We've got to make it angry!" ordered Shadow.

"Aye, sir!" said Neptune as lunged at the _King Creep_ , transforming his gun into a trident-like weapon. He stabbed one of the legs, and the beast roared in anger. It tried to charge the blue-haired youth.

"Oh, no you don't!" Knuckles quickly climbed up one of the legs. He used his wrist blades to slice the leg at the hip, then fired the integrated shotgun into the cut. The Grimm bellowed in pain as the leg had now become completely useless.

"We're hurting it!" exclaimed Rouge. However, she saw that the Grimm was now directly in front of her, but more importantly, it was about to take a huge bite out of her. Omega was firing at its head, but the _King Creep_ was determined to take out at least one of these creatures that injured it.

Poor Rouge had nowhere to run, and she still couldn't fly. Facing certain death, all she could say was "Crap!"

Fortunately for the white Bat, Sun Wukong saw her predicament. The Faunus stood still and focused his aura. As he brought a hand to his fist, he activated his Semblance, making two aura clones appear. He directed one to to impact against the _King Creep_ while the other quickly grabbed Rouge and brought her safely to his side.

Rouge was very surprised at the intervention. "What the- How?" she stammered.

Sun opened his eyes, pleased with the results. "That was me. You're welcome." he said while winking.

Suddenly, the beast stopped its rampage. It opened its huge mouth and started to inhale, preparing a fiery blast. Shadow saw a chance to do some damage, but not by him alone.

"Omega! Grenade down the throat, NOW!"

The robot transformed his arms into the bladed grenade launchers. "AFFIRMATIVE. FIRING MAIN CANNON!"

The grenade left the barrel of the launcher at a high velocity while Shadow threw the crystals at the mouth of the Grimm. Both got caught up in the vortex caused by the beast. The _King Creep's_ eyes widened as the grenade exploded in its throat. This alone wouldn't have been enough to kill it, but that's why Shadow added _Dust_ into the mix.

There was a bright flash, followed by an intense amount of heat and sound. As the group slowly regained their eyesight, they looked at the result with shock.

The explosion caused by the grenade managed to set off the _Dust crystals_ , and they also blew up. The resulting explosion completely obliterated the head and upper torso of the Grimm. As the lower half sagged to the ground and started the dissolving process, a yellow glow was seen bouncing out and clinked on the ground.

Rouge ran up and gently cradled the yellow _Chaos Emerald_ in her hands. "Whew, glad that's out of the way."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Neptune. "So, how are we gonna get out of here?"

Shadow held up his green _Chaos Emerald_. "I'll teleport us to where we first descended. Let's make sure that place is covered up for good."

"But what about the jewels?" whined Rouge.

"Chaos Control!" shouted Shadow, ignoring the bat. With a flash of light, all six of them vanished, and the mines regained their silence once again.

* * *

_Airspace above the Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _12:45_

"So, how was the mission, sir?" asked the Bullhead pilot. The airship had just arrived to pick up everyone. Noticing the white bat's expression of pain, he couldn't help but wonder, "Is your companion okay?"

Knuckles, who was tending to Rouge's wing, answered, "She'll be just fine. She just needs rest, and to not fly for a few days."

"A few days?!" cried Rouge. She started sobbing, creating comical waterfalls of tears. "I'll never make it. How will I sleep?!"

"I guess you'll just have to learn to sleep on a bed like the rest of us, Bat girl." said Shadow, unmoved. He turned back to the pilot. "To answer your first question, the mission was a success."

"NOT YET, COMRADE SHADOW," Omega said. He then held up a clawed hand with three "fingers" pointed out. He silently counted down from three, and when he reached "zero" and made a fist, a loud rumble was heard, followed by a huge plume of smoke and dirt. This was caused by the robot. He remote activated demolition charges set at the tunnel Knuckles had dug before they got trapped in the mines. The explosion completely sealed the entrance, so nothing could get in or out. "NOW CONSIDER THE MISSION A SUCCESS."

The pilot nodded, and started the flight back to Vale. "I thought you guys might be hungry, so I returned with a lunch in the cooler back there. Help yourselves to whatever you need."

Sun opened the cooler and pulled out a few bananas. "Alright, that was an interesting experience. Are all your adventures that exciting?" he asked, taking a bite.

Knuckles stood up, finished with Rouge's wing. "There's never a dull moment, that's for sure. Although Sonic's adventures are more… intense." He reached for the cooler and got a sandwich for himself

"Yeah, I'll bet." said Sun, throwing a peel out the aircraft.

"BLUE HEDGEHOG ATTRACTS TROUBLE OF ALL KINDS," agreed Omega. Suddenly, his eyes started flashing. "ALERT! ANOMALY DETECTED IN LOCAL GRAVITY."

"What's the scary robot talking about?" Neptune asked.

Omega silently pointed out the side of the Bullhead. Everyone looked at where he was pointing and saw Sun's banana peel apparently floating in the air.

"REASSESSING PREVIOUS STATEMENT ABOUT LOCAL GRAVITY," droned Omega. "FRUIT PEEL IS NOT SUSPENDED IN ATMOSPHERE. RATHER, IT IS LYING ON A CLOAKED CONSTRUCT OF SOME SORT."

"Shall I investigate?" asked the pilot, preparing to turn around.

"No."

Everyone looked at the one who spoke- Shadow. "But why?"

Shadow turned his eyes to Rouge. "If that's what I think it is, we'd better come back to it at a different time. We're too tired to go up against that thing- rather, against what might be inside it." The black Hedgehog took out his scroll and jotted down the coordinates of the anomaly to check out out at a later date.

Sun held up a hand. "Okay, resident Faunus here totally confused. What the heck IS that invisible thing, then?"

As the Bullhead left the forest and the mysterious building behind, Shadow kept the answer to himself for now. He knew what Omega's reaction would be, and it was too soon. However, he smiled and laughed softly to himself.

As far as he knew, it was the first time a base of Eggman's was found, by a banana peel, who knew?


	41. Blake's Stubbornness

_Beacon Academy's Cafeteria  
_ _2:00 p.m._

"Wait a minute. You're telling me you found Eggman's base while you were out?" Sonic asked incredulously.

The six that went to the _Forest of Forever Fall,_ Team Dark, Knuckles, Sun and Neptune, to retrieve the _Chaos Emerald_ had just come back, and Shadow was telling Sonic what happened. The rest of the Mobians, as well as Team RWBY, also attended. Sun and Neptune were there, too. Unfortunately, Team JNPR was still busy with schoolwork, and Pyrrha was helping Jaune with his combat skills.

"Yeah, that's right, Faker. Apparently, Monkey Boy's banana peel fell onto Eggman's base in the _Forest of Forever Fall_."

"See, this is why I love bananas," said Sun, who just happened to be eating another one. "Delicious and nutritious, but can also discover invisible bases."

"ONE MUST NOT FORGET ITS MORE sinister PURPOSE IN SLAPSTICK COMEDY," droned Omega as everyone laughed at the robot's joke. "IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, WHY TELL US NOW, AND NOT WHEN WE WERE HOVERING OVER IT?"

"Um, don't you get all 'insta-kill' when Eggman is involved?" asked Yang. "Besides, wasn't Rouge injured?"

"Yes to both questions, dear." the Bat said from her upside down position on the ceiling.

"How the heck did you get up there without flying?" wondered Knuckles.

Rouge winked at the Echidna. "Sorry, hon. That's a trade secret you'll have to find out."

"More to the point," Neptune interjected, "we were kinda tired from fighting a _Creature of Grimm_ that grew huge because it swallowed the _Chaos Emerald_ we were looking for."

"Geez, you'd think that the Emeralds would know by now who or what they shouldn't give their powers to." groaned Silver.

"You're not wrong," said Tails. "The history of the _Chaos Emeralds_ is full of people using their power for the wrong reasons. Eggman, Chaos, Mephiles… It really is a shame they don't have intelligences of their own."

"Too be personally honest," Blaze interfered, "sometimes the _Sol Emeralds_ work in a similar manner, but if someone like Shadow were to perform anything revolving _Chaos Energy_ it wouldn't work and force him away. That could possibly be due to him not being the guardian of the Emeralds like myself, or that they don't utilise _Chaos Energy_ at all." She stated while remembering Shadow's attempt to use _Chaos Control_ with a _Sol Emerald_ and failing many months ago.

A hologram emitter on the table flickered a bit, and Aeromi's avatar blinked into existence. " _While I don't argue against the potential uses of the_ Chaos Emeralds _gaining minds of their own, Eggman's base will probably be well fortified. Who knows what kind of devious schemes are going on in there._ "

"Changing the subject, but how are you doing on your _Homing Chain_ , Ruby?" Shadow inquired.

"Uh, I think I did alright today." Ruby answered nervously.

Shadow looked at Sonic with a serious look in his crimson eyes. "Is she being honest here? We may have a difficult time ahead of us."

Sonic glanced at the energetic redhead, smiling. "She's doing great. I think she's ready for whatever may happen."

Ruby blushed at the praise.

"Hey, guys, have you seen Blake anywhere?" asked Weiss, who just now noticed the Faunus' absence.

" _She's doing some research in the library._ " answered Aeromi.

"Again?" wondered Silver. "She's gonna wear herself out at this rate."

Lately, Blake Belladonna had become more anti-social than usual upon hearing that Eggman was responsible for the communications disruption earlier in the week. She spent most of her time researching various places where Roman Torchwick could be hiding, and she figured that if they could find Torchwick, that would lead them straight to Dr. Eggman.

"I'm getting kinda worried here, guys," said Amy Rose with worried tone. "She doesn't have her usual energy, and she's barely eaten anything."

"I've got an idea," said Yang as she stood up. "Shadow, Omega, I could use your help with this. Aeromi, you too." The Ultimate Lifeform and E-series Robot nodded, and followed the blonde out the cafeteria.

" _Aye aye, Miss Xiao Long._ " the A.I. said, playfully saluting before blinking out of existence.

"I'll go too. I think I know what Blake's going through, and what Yang will do." said Tails.

"What do the rest of us do if your plan doesn't work?" asked Ruby with concern.

Yang winked at her sister. "Relax, Ruby. Her attitude _will_ be changed." she said with confidence.

As the four walked towards the library, Sonic leaned close to Weiss. "Any idea what our blonde bombshell is planning?"

"No idea. I just hope it doesn't involve fighting." the heiress said, a worried expression on her face.

* * *

_Beacon Library  
_ _A few minutes later_

Blake Belladonna rubbed her tired eyes as she fought to stay awake. _'Should I just take a break for a little bit?'_ she thought to herself. She squelched that thought. _'No, evil never takes a break. There's no reason why I should, too.'_

She focused her eyes again on the computer screen in front of her. The Faunus was getting closer to nailing the location of Torchwick's hideout. However, that work was interrupted as a red dot suddenly appeared on her screen.

Blake followed the dot with her eyes, feline instincts kicking in. _'Either I'm going crazy, or someone's pulling a prank on me,'_ she thought as the dot slid from the computer screen onto the table. She suppressed the need to bat at it, and got up to try and find the source of the laser dot. Her investigation took her in between two bookshelves, where she paused in shock as she saw the culprits: her teammate, Yang Xiao Long, who was holding a laser pointer, and Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Hello~!" Yang sang and waved to her partner.

"Yang? Shadow? What are you doing here?"

Yang wasted no time in grabbing the Faunus' wrist. "We need to have a talk." The blonde turned to Shadow. The black Hedgehog held up his green _Chaos Emerald_.

"Chaos… _Control_!"

The three vanished, then reappeared in an empty classroom, where Tails and Omega were waiting. Blake wrenched her wrist away. "Yang, what's this all about?" she asked angrily.

"BLACK-HAIRED FELINE FEMALE HAS NEGLECTED ESSENTIAL DUTIES NEEDED TO LIVE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO CONSUMPTION OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND NIGHTLY RECHARGING OF ENERGY," the walking arsenal said. "FURTHER ABANDONMENT WILL RESULT IN ORGANIC EQUIVALENT OF SELF-DESTRUCTION."

"What?! Who cares if I don't eat or sleep?!" snapped Blake. "An evil genius with the energy of the most powerful _Creature of Grimm_ that ever existed is on the loose, and he's being helped by a criminal mastermind who's ordering a terrorist organisation to follow them! We've got to find out where they are so we can beat them!"

"And we will," affirmed Tails. "This afternoon, Shadow discovered Eggman's base, and in a week's time, we'll make our assault on it."

"Are you serious?!" asked a horrified Blake. "We don't have time for that! We need to attack now!"

"She's a stubborn one, Yang." observed Shadow.

"Listen, Blake. You need to rest. You haven't eaten very much, and you've barely slept." said a concerned Tails.

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID, ORANGE FOREST CREATURE." Omega inputted.

"Blake," Yang said softly. "I know what you're doing-"

"So don't tell me to stop!"

"Listen. I know what's going on in your head right now. You feel that you're the only one who can stop evil in this world, and you'll drive yourself so hard you'll ignore your body's needs. It's happened to me before, when I was trying to find my mother."

Any comment that Blake was going to make was silenced by this bit of news. Shadow, Tails, and even Omega, started to listen closer to the story.

"See, Ruby and I are really half-sisters. Ruby's mother was named Summer Rose. She was, like, super-mom. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters." Yang smiled fondly at the memory, then her expression became more solemn. "One day she went out on a mission, and she never came back. Ruby couldn't stop crying for days on end, but Dad was even more crushed, almost shutted himself down to depression."

"Why?" asked Shadow, even though he had a hunch about the answer.

"This wasn't the first love Dad had lost. The first one," Yang had to take a deep breath to settle her emotions, "was _my_ mother."

Blake looked at Yang through tired, yet attentive eyes. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know," the blonde answered. "I thought I came across a clue to her whereabouts, so I set out to find an abandoned house on the island me and Ruby grew up on- Patch, an island just west of Vale. I kept pushing myself to get there, carrying Ruby in a small wagon. When I finally got there, I was so exhausted- but I had made it. That's when I saw those demonic eyes."

Tails gasped involuntarily at the image Yang described.

"There we were, a toddler asleep in a wagon and a stubborn girl too tired to cry for help. Our lives should have ended that day, if not for the timely arrival of our Uncle Qrow."

Blake looked at the blonde with new respect. "Yang, I can see what you're trying to tell me, but this is different-"

"Is it?" interrupted Shadow. "From my perspective, your stubbornness and disregard for those around you in pursuit of your goals will pretty much result in what happened to Yang, except there won't be anyone to save you."

"How would you know?!" Blake snapped, though it wasn't with as much venom as before.

"I was once like you, Blake. I thought, 'If I could reach my goal, everything will be alright.' Except that single-mindedness almost caused the destruction of Mobius itself. I wanted to get back my memories, but it was only thanks to Sonic and the others that I was able to remember my promise to Maria, and let everyone have a chance to be happy, and not just me." Shadow said as he closes his eyes as various memories flooded his mind, ranging from Maria's shooting to the _Black Arms crisis,_ even the lies that Mephiles the Dark spouted out lingered too. 

"The point is, you need to think about others before you wear yourself out." finished Yang. "We're not asking you to stop, just slow down. If nothing else, do it for the people who care about you."

Blake was silent for a bit. She then sat down on an empty seat, head in her hands. "Shadow?"

"Yes, Blake?"

"Could you use _Chaos Control_ to take me to the dorm room?" she asked, smiling for the first time in a while. "I think I might fall asleep on the way if I walked there by myself."

The Black Blur returned the smile and took out his _Chaos Emerald_. "Good to see you making a smart choice. I was afraid I would have to get Omega to threaten you to make sure you get your rest."

The thought of Blake trying to sleep at gunpoint made everyone laugh, especially the Faunus.

"But… what do I do about my research?"

Aeromi winked into view. " _Miss Belladonna, I took the liberty to save your research and findings and sent them to Tails. You know, you could have asked for help from the rest of us._ "

The Mobian Fox nodded. "Hey Blake. When you feel better, you should come join us on Sunday. We're planning to have a small party at seven. All casual, and everyone from the school's invited. There's even gonna be a small dance."

Blake looked confused. "Why does that matter?"

Tails gave her a sly look. "Well, if you went, you would make a certain Faunus from Vacuo very happy."

"I'll… think about it," said Blake, not wanting to commit just yet. "Right now, I just feel like sleeping."

"That's fine," said Yang, smiling. "We'll send you something to eat when you wake up."

"Chaos… _Control_!"

Shadow warped Blake to Team RWBY's dorm room, startling Zwei a little before realizing the person was one of her mistress' friends. Blake sighed, feeling like a great weight had been taken off her shoulders. She crawled into her bed, thanking whatever deity that gave her such good friends, and drifted quickly into a deep slumber. Zwei jumped onto her bed soon after, and fell asleep with her.

Meanwhile, back the classroom, Yang was feeling pretty pleased with herself. "Well, that went better than I thought it would." she said aloud.

"Thank Chaos for that." agreed Shadow.

And with that, the group separated, all preparing for the party in their own way. All hoping that Blake would show up, but they weren't worried about it. They knew she would appear.

The hard part would be to make sure there was enough tuna for her.


	42. The Party of Possibilities

_Team RWBY's dorm  
_ _6:30 p.m (the next day)_

There was a sense of excitement in the air as the hour of the party planned by the Mobians drew near. Most couldn't wait for it, but there were one or two teams who decided against going, and instead decided to spread rumors about them being 'experiments' sent by the White Fang to destroy them all. Luckily, no one listened to Team CRDL since Cardin's _"Hot Pants" incident_ from Blaze several weeks ago.

Teams RWBY and JNPR helped out with preparations, and were now getting ready to join the fun.

"Man, this party is gonna be awesome!" said Yang, pumping her fists.

"I just hope that Blake will be there. It just wouldn't be the same without her." said Ruby, combing her hair.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," responded Weiss. "Blake can be a stubborn one, but I'm confident that Yang's little plan to convince her the error of her ways was successful."

"If that's the case, speaking of, where is she?" the scythe-wielder wondered. Blake had woken up late that morning, and instead of helping to prepare for the party, she went out to satisfy her ravenous hunger.

There was a knock on the door, then it opened, revealing the Faunus, looking well-rested. Zwei ran up to her, wagging his small tail. She petted the dog before facing her teammates.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late, I just needed to pick up a new can opener." Blake put a hand behind her head, looking a bit embarrassed. "I… kinda broke the one we had when I used it this afternoon."

"What'd you use it on?" Weiss asked. "Twenty cans of tuna?"

Blake's blush reddened even more. "More like thirty," she said, chuckling nervously. She took the can opener she bought and placed it next to Zwei's dog food. "Let's just say I neglected my bodily needs more than I should have."

Yang shrugged. "Eh, water under the bridge. We're just glad to see you around, and not doing some more research in the library."

"We're also glad you finally cleaned yourself up a bit. I was afraid you were going to forget to take a shower." Weiss said haughtily.

"Alright, you've made your point, Ice Queen." said Blake, while making the heiress a little annoyed now. "Can we just go to the party? I'm expecting someone there."

And with that, the four girls left to join the festivities.

* * *

_Beacon Ballroom  
_ _6:45 p.m._

"Hey guys, we're here." the red Rose said to the pink Rose. Team RWBY had just arrived to the doors to the ballroom where the party was being held. While the pink Hedgehog was making sure that only Beacon Academy students and personnel entered, Omega was positioned to the left of the doors, which probably made him the coolest bouncer to anyone's eyes.

"Glad you guys could make it!" said a smiling Amy. She opened the doors and revealed the ballroom.

Team RWBY did help the Mobians prepare for the party, but their breath was still taken away at the sight. The ballroom was decorated with many lights, and the tables all holographic decorations on them. A dance floor was set up with tiles that flashed and changed colours. In front of the dance floor was a DJ booth, where lively music was coming out of large speakers. Surprisingly enough, Knuckles was in the DJ booth, but Tails was also there, so the chances of a disaster were lowered enough.

Sonic was preparing an electric guitar on a small stage near the booth when Ruby walked up. "Hey Sonic!"

"Hey, Ruby," the blue Hedgehog responded, giving a two fingered salute. He then noticed Blake. "Well, nice to see you out and about."

"I'm just surprised you didn't have any 'catnap-related' puns at the ready." said Yang.

"The thought did occur to me, but I decided against it. Too many people around," Sonic explained. He jumped off the stage. "Anyway, we've been working hard lately, so all of us Mobians decided to throw a party to relax and have fun."

"Hey, have you seen Sun around?" asked Blake as see looked around for the monkey Faunus.

Sonic pointed to the other side of the ballroom, where Sun and Neptune were talking with Silver and Blaze. Blake and Weiss immediately went that direction, and Sonic, Yang, and Ruby were slightly surprised that dust trails didn't follow in their wake. After a few seconds of bemusement, the trio just shrugged it off and talked about their past adventures. Ranging from _Sonic's death_ from Mephiles the Dark, to how Ruby entered Beacon by preventing a Dust robbery lead by Roman Torchwick.

With the arrival of Team RWBY, Amy went ahead and started letting people in. The dress code was casual, so no one felt restricted by dresses or suits.

A few minutes passed, then another team walked up to where Amy was signing in party members. "Oh, hello there," she greeted cheerfully. "What team are you?"

The team in question consisted of two young men and two women. The first guy was very tall with shaved black hair, and wore a light green robe. The second guy had dark skin with scars on his arms, and messy copper-brown hair on top of a scarred face, and pure white eyes.

One of the girls was a very familiar face- Velvet Scarlatina, the rabbit-eared Faunus that had a few classes with Teams RWBY and JNPR. For this occasion, she changed out of her school uniform and into her casual/battle clothes.

The last girl was very fashionable, with brown the main color of her clothes. She wore high heels and carried a stylish designer purse. Her brown hair, which transitioned to red near the end of one of her locks, was topped with a black beret, and she was also wearing sunglasses, even though the party was being held in the early evening.

"We're Team CFVY," the girl with the beret said. "I'm _Coco Adel_ , and that's _Fox Alistair_ , I _Velvet Scarlatina_ , and _Yatsuhashi Daichi_." She pointed at each member of her team.

Amy paused. "Wait a minute… Didn't Rouge try to pickpocket your purse?"

Coco lowered her sunglasses and raised an eyebrow, questions in her brown eyes. "Rouge?"

"That'd be me, hon. Please don't kill me." the Bat in question said as she sashayed over to the fashionable girl. "I just wanted to say that your reaction at my attempt reminded me why I'm known as a jewel thief."

Coco lifted her glasses up, a hint of a smile on her face. "Just don't try anything to me or anyone else on my team."

With that settled, Team CFVY walked in and started to mingle with the crowd. A few minutes later, Professor Ozpin arrived at the entrance to the ballroom, with Glynda Goodwitch holding his arm.

"Hello, professors." greeted Amy.

"Good evening, Miss Rose," said Ozpin. "I just wanted to make sure that this party won't require an ambulance standing-by."

Amy chuckled at the small joke. "I don't think there's a huge chance of that happening. Anyways, it looks like my Sonic will be performing a song in a few minutes, so I'd better get in there if I don't want to miss it." she said while checking her scroll.

Ozpin and Glynda followed the pink Hedgehog into the ballroom. Omega stood in front of the door, making sure no unwanted guests arrived.

"A song?" Glynda confusingly asked Ozpin as they walked in.

"Apparently, our guests from Mobius like to perform music. Especially Sonic, who seems to be the leader of them all. Teams RWBY and JNPR have often joined them on stage at times. They've actually become even more well known due to videos of the songs they performed being posted on the RemNet." **(A/N: RemNet is basically the internet for Remnant)**

"And all of the Mobians have done so?" Glynda asked, somewhat astonished.

"Everyone except that robot fellow, Omega. Of course, that's probably a good thing." said Ozpin, chuckling at the thought of him performing a song.

"Yes, the thought of it kind of scares me." the headmistress admits.

Inside, the party was still pretty lively. Shadow was having a conversation with Team CFVY and trying very hard to not drool at the sight of Coco's purse- more accurately, the mini-gun it transformed into. Silver and Blaze were doing a tango on the dance floor, much to the excitement of the gathered students. Weiss tried to get Neptune to dance, but the blue-haired teen was not very good at it, so they sat at a table and talked instead.

Knuckles was still doing his DJ thing, and everyone who knew him was very surprised at how good he was at it.

"Hey, Red~," a smooth voice said. The Echidna jumped a little, then relaxed when he saw it was Rouge. "I couldn't help but wonder; how did you get this skilled at being a DJ?"

"It's just one of skills you pick up when searching for the _Master Emerald_ _shards_ and hanging out with Sonic," he answered. Rouge raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it. "So, how come you aren't doin' your thing out there?" He gestured at the dance floor.

Rouge sighed. "I can't really do that for two reasons. One: Some of my best moves require my wings. And two: The ones that don't are more appropriate for a more… older audience."

"That doesn't seem to be stopping Yang." said Knuckles as he pointed at the dance floor, where the blonde was moving her hips in a rhythmic fashion, drawing a lot of stares from the male students. Ruby was nearby, shaking her head at her sister's antics.

A holographic decoration on the console in front of Knuckles flickered before revealing Aeromi's avatar. " _Rouge, I think you'll be okay as long as your clothes stay on._ " she said while winking.

With that, the white Bat rushed over to Yang and started an impromptu dance fight, which got a lot of attention. Knuckles smiled and shook his head at the sight. "Yep, that's our Rouge. Always wanting to be the center of attention."

" _Isn't that a bit counterintuitive for a thief?_ " the A.I. wondered.

"Yes, it is. She should consider herself lucky that she's on G.U.N.'s payroll."

A few minutes later, the dance fight ended with no clear winner, but Yang and Rouge didn't seem bothered by that. Suddenly, all of the holographic decorations on the table turned blue. Sonic took this as his cue to get up on the stage and pick up an electric guitar. Joining him was Blaze on electric guitar, with Silver on bass and Yang on drums.

_Jaret Reddick- Endless Possibilities_

Sonic started out with a very nice guitar solo, then the others joined him in the song, with Sonic as the lead singer.

**This is my escape**  
**I'm running through this world**  
**And I'm not looking back**  
**Cause I know I can go**  
**Where no one's ever gone**  
**And I'm not looking back**

**But how will I know when I get there**  
**And how will I know when to leave**  
**We've all gotta start from somewhere**  
**And it's right there for me**  
**The possibilities are never ending!**

**I see it, I see it**  
**And now it's all within my reach**  
**Endless possibility!**  
**I see it, I see it now**  
**It's always been inside of me**  
**And now I feel so free!**  
**Endless Possibility!**

The students of Beacon were a bit apprehensive about a bunch of animals performing a song, but they got into the spirit of the song. Blake and Sun had a section of the dance floor to themselves, performing many acrobatic dance moves. 

**And so I'll carry on**  
**My time to shine has come**  
**I feel it!**  
**As fast as I can go**  
**Straight to the top, I know**  
**You'll see it!**

**So please wake me up when I get there**  
**It feels like I'm lost in a dream**  
**I know it my heart that it's my time**  
**And I already see! The possibilities are never ending!**

**I see it, I see it**  
**And now it's all within my reach**  
**Endless possibility!**  
**I see it, I see it now**  
**It's always been inside of me**  
**And now I feel so free!**  
**Endless Possibility!**

All of the holograms on the stage, as well as the ones on the tables, flickered as Aeromi featured clips from Sonic's previous adventures, as well as some from his time with Team RWBY. The crowd cheered in approval, though Ruby felt a little embarrassed when she saw her crude _Homing Chain_ in the _Digital Realm_.

**Drop that smile 'cause you're beaten again**  
**Now this is where my journey begins**

**You're losing speed**  
**You're losing your flow**  
**But inside me's a power you'll never know**  
**Just let it out, it's inside you**  
**you Better all stand back, 'cause I'm coming through**

For the students of Beacon, this was becoming a night to remember. Team JNPR started dancing in front of the stage, their bodies synchronized to the music. Pretty much anyone who knew them was very surprised at how good they were, especially Jaune.

**I see it, I see it**  
**And now it's all within my reach**  
**I see it, I see it now**  
**It's always been inside of me**

**I see it, I see it**  
**And now it's all within my reach**  
**Endless possibility!**  
**I see it, I see it now**  
**It's always been inside of me**  
**And now I feel so free!**

At this point, Sonic kneeled with his guitar and rocked out with an awesome guitar solo. All the students gathered cheered at the Hedgehog, and even Glynda smiled at the moment. When it ended, he did a backflip and resumed singing.

 **Endless Possibility!**  
**Endless Possibility**  
**Endless Possibility!**  
**Endless Possibility**  
**Endless Possibility!**

As the song ended, everyone clapped and cheered for the Sonic and the band. "You know," he said, facing Blaze, "I do believe this might be the best one we've done so far."

"I thank you for letting me be a part of it," the pyrokinetic feline responded. "I never really get the chance to do this sort of thing, so this is a nice change."

Sonic grinned as she put the guitar away and joined Silver. Yang walked up to the hedgehog. "I gotta say, you really know how to spice up a party." she said, bumping fists with Sonic.

"Oh, that's nothing," he responded. "You should see Shadow and I's fusion trick."

"Yeah... Wait, what?"

Yang's question would go unanswered as Ruby ran over, with Weiss following behind her. "You guys were awesome!" she gushed. Sonic responded with a thumbs up.

"I think that Aeromi's little trick of showing us your past adventures was a nice touch," the heiress commented. She tapped on a nearby emitter, cuing Aeromi to appear. "Hey, how'd you get that footage, anyway?"

The A.I. grinned. " _Oh, Tails apparently had it on his_ Miles Electric _. I just took the liberty of using it for this song._ "

"Hey, wait a minute," said Amy. "Where did Rouge go?"

"I dunno, I lost sight of her after the dance fight," said Yang. "Maybe she left."

"I'll go look for her." said Shadow. He walked out of the ballroom, grumbling to himself about his teammate. All thoughts of Rouge were forgotten when he saw Omega.

The robot was lying on his side, his red eyes dark. The black Hedgehog quickly ran up to him and pressed a panel on his back, revealing a keypad. He punched in a reset code, causing Omega to stir.

"C-COMRADE S-S-SHADOW…" he stuttered, lights blinking on and off.

"Don't speak, we need to get Tails." Shadow said. Before he raced to get the Fox, Omega reached for his wrist.

"COMRADE S-SHADOW… COMRADE... R-R-ROUGE... WAS… T-T-TAKEN…"

As Omega shutted himself down for repairs, Shadow noticed a small piece of paper near the robot. He carefully unfolded it. His eyes narrowed and he almost unleashed a _Chaos Blast_ upon seeing what was on it.

On the paper was the symbol of a jewel, followed by a short message:

_"Who's the better thief now?"_


	43. Encounter with a Rival

_Beacon Academy Workshop  
_ _8:00 a.m._

After the party on Sunday, classes the next day were such a letdown. For the Mobians and the Remnant natives who were friends with them, it was a much darker day. Everyone gathered in the workshop before classes and began to discuss how to rescue Rouge the Bat.

"Okay, before we begin, can I just comment on how meta it is for a thief to be stolen- by a thief?" said Sonic.

"You have to admit, it is pretty ironic." agreed Ruby.

"How can you make jokes at a time like this?!" shouted Weiss. She was pretty upset that one of her friends was kidnapped by unknown forces, and was very worried about Rouge, especially since her wing still wasn't healed.

"Guys, calm down." said Tails. He punched a few buttons on his pad and displayed the images onto a bigger screen. "Now, because non of use didn't take our weapons to the party last night, the locater beacons within Rouge's are useless. However, she agreed for a transmitter be inserted into her heel, so we should be able to get a location soon."

Tails pulled up a satellite map of Vale. He pressed a button on the _Miles Electric_ , and after a few seconds, a silhouette of Rouge's head appeared at a warehouse on the docks.

"That's where she is?" asked Knuckles. "Let's go get her!"

"Wait." Everyone's heads turned to the speaker, being Shadow. "Before you say anything, believe me, I want to rescue my teammate- my friend- as much as the rest of you do. But we need to think this through. That symbol on that paper I found goes with a known associate of Roman Torchwick. Who knows what kind of forces are going to be there?" that got the others thinking, "Additionally, we can't call upon Omega, at least not now." Shadow's head turned to the E-series robot, who was on a table with all sorts of tools around him. "Hey, artificial intelligence, what's the status report with Omega?" he asked, a bit harsher than he intended.

Aeromi flared into existence from a hologram emitter next to Omega. " _His systems were jumbled up by a close range E.M.P. emitter. He'll be fine, but it's going to take some time for him to be a hundred percent again. Too soon if we're going to rescue Rouge within the next twenty-four hours._ " she said.

"What if we try to sneak into where she's hiding?" asked Jaune.

Shadow considered his suggestion. "That might work, but we'd need a small team that can move quietly. Also, since Torchwick's associated with the White Fang, we'd be up against Faunus that could probably hear us coming. Still, it's not a bad idea. The only question is who should go."

"I'll say you, me, and Silver can go in and rescue her." Sonic suggested.

"Wait, but, what about us?" Pyrrha asks, gesturing to Teams RWBY and JNPR as to how to help in the infiltration mission.

"Why don't you all go to your classes for now?" said Amy. "We'll come up with a team by the time you're done."

As the teams left for their classes, Silver suddenly had an idea. "Hey guys, I'm sure we can do this, but I think we're gonna have to call in some outside resources."

"Oh yeah? And what _'outside resources'_ do we know of?" asked Sonic.

The white Hedgehog grinned. "Captain Shepard of the _Normandy_."

* * *

_Vale Harbor, Abandoned Warehouse  
_ _8:30 a.m._

After being hung upside-down by the feet for a few hours after regaining consciousness, there was an undeniable conclusion to be made.

Rouge was downright bored.

She didn't remember how she arrived in the dark, featureless room, nor when her ankles and hands were tied and was left hanging upside-down in the middle of an unmarked room. She just knew she was at a party beforehand.

"Well, this sucks. At least the accommodations are nicer than the last time I lost consciousness at a party." she said to herself. On that occasion, she came to in a G.U.N. interrogation cell, sleeping off a hangover. It was only through her feminine wiles- and Shadow and Omega- that she didn't end up in prison.

 _"Still, this doesn't seem like something set up in a jail cell."_ the Bat thought out loud. She took a mental inventory of what she had, and really wasn't surprised when she remembered leaving her pistols in her room. She was more appalled that the familiar weight of her makeup kit was gone.

Still, all things considered, it could've been worse. She didn't mind that she was upside-down- she's a Bat, for the Bother's sake-, and she was certainly thankful that she wasn't chained up against a wall, forcing pressure on her injured wing.

Rouge's sensitive ears twitched as she heard two sets of footsteps coming her way. A door opened behind her, followed by an unknown person turning on the lights, revealing that the room was just as featureless in the light as it was in the dark. "Wake up!" a female voice said harshly.

"Come on, just five more minutes." whined Rouge. She was already wide awake, but she was not going to make life easy for the person or people who captured her.

A person walked in front of the Bat, and Rouge was not surprised at all to see green hair and red eyes on a dark-skinned face. "Ah, lovely to see you again, Emerald." she said brightly, dropping the facade of someone who had just awoken.

"Can it, you freak!" Emerald Sustrai commanded, and failling.

"Really? 'Freak' is the best insult you could come up with? Hon, the government flunkies I put up with back home are more creative than you. Granted, those perverts mostly reference my perfect figure and what I do with it during interro-"

Rouge's musings were interrupted by a slap across the face. "You owe me for that embarrassment you put me through when we first met, Rouge the Bat."

"Get in line, I do it all the time." the Mobian responded cheekily.

"Your friends don't know where you are, you're unarmed, and that robot of yours won't be coming to save you anytime soon. You're out of luck." the girl said with smug look on her face, crossing her arms.

Rouge turned her head. "Hey, you, two questions. Is she always like this, and are you enjoying the show?" she asked the grey haired person standing just outside the room.

"Oh, trust me, she's just getting started." Mercury Black answered, stifling his laughter. "And yes, this is hilarious. Too bad this room doesn't record sound, I wanna listen to this again."

"Why is your wing bandaged up? Are you grounded?" Emerald mocked, trying to get the upper hand. When she approached the wing, Rouge uncurled it and ended up whacking the girl in the face, knocking her down.

"Nope, I've got bandages on cause it looks nice." the Bat responded. In truth, the wing was still hurting a bit, but she was given a medicine that boosted the body's natural healing the night before. Rouge figured that even though she couldn't fly yet, she could still knock the green-haired thief to the floor- and she did. "Just out of curiosity, are you just here to gloat? By the way, oops."

"No, I'm here to tell you that you may have been a big shot on your world, but I'm the best thief there is on THIS world." Emerald said, red eyes full of hate as she got up.

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Really? If that's the case, how'd I get your wallet?"

"What the-" Sure enough, Emerald's wallet was clenched in Rouge's bound hands. Mercury lost it at this point and just started laughing his butt off.

"You realize that the more you tick me off, the less chances there are that you'll live through the day, right?" snapped Emerald as she snatched her wallet back.

Rouge shrugged. "Hey, if I'm imprisoned, and will likely die, I might as well enjoy myself. Besides, screwing with you is so much fun than teasing Knuckie. Although, you both has similar tempter-tantrums."

Emerald went for the door, dragging a still laughing Mercury on the floor. "We'll see how long you can keep that attitude, you bitch!" she said as she slammed the door to the room, leaving Rouge all alone again.

Privately, Rouge was worried about Omega, but she dismissed it. The robot had been through worse at the hands of the _Nocturnus Clan_ and the _Metal Overlord incident_ , so a young girl probably didn't damage him too much. All in all, she felt pretty good. She won against Emerald's anger, and she learned something valuable, thanks to Mercury- the room didn't have any listening devices.

Before she could exploit that, the door opened again, revealing a member of the White Fang carrying a tray of food. The woman was dressed in the usual White Fang stalker wear and mask, but she had two distinguishing features- green gauntlets on her arms, and a the tail of a squirrel as her Faunus feature.

"Well, I'll be," said Rouge, surprised. "You're a sight for sore eyes, _Tali_."

"Sush!" the Faunus hissed. "Don't blow my cover!"

"Oh, relax, hon. This is gonna sound embarrassing for you, but I've been awake for about three hours, and I already know there aren't any listening devices in this room."

Tali breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, but don't expect me to hang around here. I'm just supposed to feed you and leave, so there's no time to play catch-up."

"So, no releasing me?"

Tali shook her head. "I can only let you down so you can walk around, but I have to chain you to the floor." The Faunus gently lowered Rouge to the ground, then clipped the chain that hung her from the ceiling to a spot on the ground.

"Oh, well, one can only dream."

Tali gave the Bat the food tray, then said, "I'll try to get a message out to John, but I'm not sure he'll risk an assault for fear of blowing my cover."

"I wouldn't worry too much. I activated a locator beacon in my heel about an hour ago. If I know my friends, they'll probably be here by evening."

"Wait, how'd you do that with your hands tied?"

"Who said I used my hands?" Rouge countered with a cryptic smile.

Tali twitched her lips, then adopted a worried expression that Rouge could see through the White Fang mask. "I hope it's no later than that. One of the White Fang leaders, a terrifying bull Faunus named _Adam Taurus_ , will be here tomorrow evening. If that Emerald girl hasn't killed you by then, he'll do far worse than she ever could."

A loud bang on the door caused the Bat Mobian and squirrel Faunus to jump. "Okay, you've been in there long enough. No need to torture that... thing, the boss'll do it soon enough." a voice said just outside the room.

Tali stood up. "Wait, before you go, could you get my makeup kit?" Rouge requested. "I know I may die, but I want to look good when I do. I really need to reapply my mascara."

The squirrel Faunus suppressed a smirk. "I'll see what I can do."

After Tali applied Rouge's makeup, she left, Rouge was once again alone. As she ate her bland breakfast, she decided to not think about the certain doom that would happen if her friends didn't rescue her.

Instead, she thought of ways to razz Knuckles once she got out.


	44. Operation: Rescue Rouge

_Vale Docks, Independent Vessel_ Normandy  
 _6:30 p.m._

_"And that's our plan, Captain."_

John Shepard, Captain of the _Normandy_ and leader of the mercenary group known as _the Company_ , looked at the speaker on the vidscreen. "That's a good plan, but I feel like I have to point out something pretty important. You do realize that if anyone finds you, they won't just imprison you, they'll kill you right where you stand, right?"

Sonic shrugged. _"I'm pretty confident that we'll get it done. Besides, once you've started fighting Eggman, a terrorist group is much more manageable in comparison."_

"Even one like the White Fang?"

 _"Hey, we've fought against an entire alien race for the survival of Mobius before,"_ Sonic compaired. _"The White Fang's got nothing on the Black Arms. Also, these guys are less annoying than Eggman or Black Doom."_

Shepard smirked at the remark. "Very well. You can count on my support for this operation. But if you blow my future wife's cover-"

The blue Hedgehog held up a hand. _"Listen, Captain. If it comes down to a choice between blowing a cover or fighting a friend, I'd rather get her out of there."_

The captain sighed. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Shepard then grinned suddenly. "I think I have an idea that'll allow you to extract her without blowing her cover…"

As Shepard told Sonic his idea, the Hedgehog adopted a stunned expression on his face.

_"Okay, I know my little brother Tails is child prodigy, but I think that may be the best idea I've heard all day. I'll make sure to tell the team that's gonna rescue Rouge."_

"What, you're not going?" asked Shepard.

Sonic put his hands behind his head. _"Eh, sneaking into places isn't really my strong suit. From what I've heard that requires patience, which I have little of to begin with. I'm more of a 'rush in and destroy everything' kinda guy. The only Mobian who's actually good at this sort of thing is the one we're rescuing, unfortunately. Also, I suggested me, Shadow and Silver going in but it went unheard."_

Shepard nodded in understanding. "Very well. Send the signal when you're ready."

 _"Aye aye, Captain."_ said Sonic, saluting before turning off the vidscreen.

Shepard swiveled in his chair, facing a hologram emitter. "Chief?"

The _Normandy_ A.I.'s avatar flickered into view. " _Yes sir?_ " the armoured figure asked.

"Send the signal to Tali. We're getting her out."

Shepard was slightly disappointed that they wouldn't be able to get any more information out of the White Fang, but that was overshadowed by his relief and anticipation of seeing his fiance once more.

" _Aye, sir, sending return signal,_ " Chief responded. " _Any specific instructions I should imbed in the signal?_ "

"Tell her to follow exfiltration protocol 87B. And make it flashy. Can't let the Mobians have all the fun."

* * *

_Warehouse district  
_ _8:00 p.m._

As far as rescue teams went, it was the best they could do, given that Rouge was the one that needed the rescue. It consisted of Blake Belladonna, Sun Wukong, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose the Hedgehog, and Miles "Tails" Prower.

Everyone was surprised when Tails and Amy were chosen to spring Rouge out, but they went along with it. For one thing, even though Amy wasn't too thrilled about rescuing the flirtatious Bat, that didn't mean she hated her. Also, the pink Hedgehog was starting to get bored of just running after Sonic all the time, which was a shock to everyone, especially Sonic.

As for Tails, everyone agreed that the fox really needed to get out more.

Currently, the five of them were on the roof of a building near the place where Rouge's signal was coming from. Tails pulled out his scroll and displayed their location on a map. "Okay, guys. We do this right, we rescue Rouge with no problems. If not-"

"We still rescue Rouge, it's just gonna be more difficult." interrupted Sun cheerfully.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." said Amy.

Blake looked through a pair of binoculars at the warehouse. "I spot two guards, both White Fang. It looks like they're guarding that door."

"Do you see any others?" asked Knuckles. "I can't exactly fight effectively with four pistols on my back." The red Echidna volunteered to carry _Lovacs_ , and the jeweled pistols were inserted onto a backpack.

"No, but that doesn't mean they aren't there." the Faunus said, answering Knuckles' question.

"So how should we distract and/or take them out?" asked Tails.

Blake looked around with the binoculars some more. "Hey, Sun, you see those shipping containers?" She pointed at said containers sitting adjacent to the warehouse. Some of the White Fang were loading crates into them.

"Yeah, I do. The ones marked with the _Schnee Dust Company_ logo, right?"

"Yes. It looks like some of them are open."

Amy, who pulled out her own pair of binoculars, also saw the containers. She drew her attention to one that was by itself, away from the working Faunus. "Yeah, I see some exposed _Dust crystals_ in there. Pretty shoddy packing, if you ask me."

Knuckles snapped his fingers, attracting everyone's attention. "Guys, I think I have an idea." he said, pleased with himself.

"And what would that be?" asked Amy. Both she and Tails were understandably skeptical about Knuckles having an idea. It was either going to be really good or really bad.

"First of all, Blake, how good is your range on the pistol mode of _Gambol Shroud_?"

The Faunus pointed to a small lightbulb on top of the warehouse, almost an equal distance to the open shipping container. "I can hit the center of that light, no problem. Why?" she asked, a perplexed expression on her face.

The Echidna donned an eager grin. "We're going to give the White Fang one hell of a distraction."

* * *

_A few minutes later…_

The White Fang members guarding the entrance to the warehouse were elite, and they were proud to do their duty. However, there's only so much that a person can do before becoming bored. Such was the case with those two as they started a conversation.

"Hey, have you seen that recruit with the squirrel tail?"

"What, the one guarding that mutated Bat?"

"Yeah, that one. I'd like have some one-on-one time with that girl." the White Fang guarding the warehouse confided to the other, a lecherous smile on his face.

"Believe me, it's not worth it. Jenkins tried asking her the other week."

"Really? What happened to him?"

"Let's just say that his palm tree ended up with some missing coconuts."

The first White Fang member flinched. "Ouch. That explains why he's in a wheelchair."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"Still, what are the chances of me being successful?"

The second guard thought about it. "Well, between one and ten, I'd say-"

**BOOOM!**

A huge explosion shattered the tranquil night. For some reason, one of the containers of _Dust_ blew up, releasing all sorts of elemental energy. Some parts of the ground were charred from fire, while some patches were frozen. Some of the metal in the area became charged with electricity. All in all, it was total chaos.

The Faunus guarding the warehouse ran towards the scene, ready to help in any way that was possible.

"Get that fire out!"

"Don't touch that pole! Do you want to get electrocuted?!"

"Get on the radio, tell HQ what happened!"

"I can't get a signal!"

In the midst of the commotion, nobody noticed five figures running stealthily to the entrance, and those that did didn't care, for they had more pressing issues at the moment.

Tails rapidly unlocked the door and let everyone in. They all let out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that they weren't caught.

"Wow, Knux, I didn't know you had it in you to come up with such a great plan." said Amy.

The red Echidna gave her a thumbs up. "Sometimes I even surprise myself." he responded.

"Alright, guys, let's move. We may have distracted them, but we shouldn't celebrate until Rouge is with us." said Tails.

As the group walked down the aisles of the warehouse, Sun whispered to Blake, "I'll admit, I didn't think that you could hit a _Dust crystal_ from that far away. That was an awesome shot."

"I actually missed my intended target," she confided. "I was aiming for a _Fire Dust crystal_ , and I think I hit the _Lightning crystal_ next to it."

Sun waved a hand in dismissal. "So you missed by an inch, big deal. The White Fang are distracted, and that's what matters."

"Not entirely distracted," whispered Tails, peering around a corner. "I see someone guarding the room that Rouge is located at."

"I'll get this one." said Amy, brandishing her _Piko-Piko hammer_ and racing around the corner."

"Wait, Amy!-"

The pink Hedgehog started running towards the White Fang, completely disregarding her own safety. The Faunus noticed her, and before Amy could connect her _Piko-Piko hammer_ with the guard's head, the Faunus sidestepped out of the way and grabbed her wrists, locking them up and making Amy drop her hammer. Amy gulped, knowing that she might be facing certain death.

"Come on, you should know you shouldn't rush at an enemy." the Faunus said, the voice identified as a woman's.

"Wait, that voice sounds familiar… Tali?" the pink Hedgehog asked in disbelief. Sure enough, Amy could make out a squirrel tail upon closer inspection, as well as emerald green gauntlets.

"Long time no see. Looks like Rouge was right about a quick rescue mission." she responded, flashing a grin as she let go of Amy's wrists.

As the rest of the rescue group gathered around her, she held up a hand, preventing them from asking questions. "There's a time and a place for catching up, but this isn't either of them. That little distraction of yours won't last long. You've got to get Rouge and get out of here." she said, handing Tails the key to the makeshift jail cell.

"What about you?" asked Blake before she could stop herself.

Tali smiled. "I've got my own escape plan. If anyone asks, say you knocked me out and stuffed me in a closet somewhere."

And with that, the Faunus ran past them, jumping onto one of the shipping containers in the warehouse before latching onto a skylight using her clawshot.

Sun grabbed the key from Tails' hands and stuck it in the lock and turned it. What they saw when the door was opened surprised them. Not only was Rouge totally fine, she was sitting on the floor against a wall, applying her blue eye shadow.

"Oh, hey guys," she greeted nonchalantly, putting her makeup case away. As she stood up, Knuckles noticed her feet manacled to the floor. "I probably would have gotten out of here myself, but that last chain is a doozy. Hey Red~, could you do me a favor?"

The Echidna nodded and placed his hands on Rouge's shackles. With a grunt of effort, he pulled it apart. "There ya go. As an added bonus, I brought you a gift." Knuckles took off the backpack and revealed _Lovacs_ , the embedded gems gleaming in the light.

Rouge's face lit up with joy. "There you are, my babies," she cooed, kissing each pistol before putting them in their respective positions. "I'll never let you out of my sight again!"

"Alright, alright, enough fawning over your guns," said Amy, sweatdropping. "Let's get out of here."

They left Rouge's cell and quickly made their way towards the entrance to the warehouse.

"There it is!" cried Tails.

"We're actually gonna make it!" said Knuckles.

Suddenly, all the lights in the warehouse went out. "Great, you just HAD to say something, didn't you, Knuckie?" asked Rouge sarcastically as they waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.

"It's not his fault. You just didn't take all of us into account." a male voice called out.

As suddenly as the lights turned off, they turned back on again, this time revealing a change in their environment. The rescue group found themselves surrounded by members of the White Fang, all aiming their weapons at them. At the head of the group were three people. They recognized Emerald Sustrai- looking absolutely livid at the sight of a free Rouge- and Mercury Black, but they didn't recognize the third person- a red-haired man with horn-like protrusions coming from his head, as well a a black suit and probably the most intricate White Fang mask they've ever seen.

All but one.

"No…" whispered Blake fearfully. "It can't be…"

"Huh, well what do you know," the man said. "It's been too long… Blake."

"You know that guy, Blake?" asked Sun, taking out _Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang_ in staff form.

Blake steeled herself. "You guys remember my partner when I was with the White Fang?" The team nodded but then relieved who Blake was referring too.

"That's HIM!?" Knuckles shout out in surprise

"Yes, that's Adam."


	45. Mobians & Hunters vs. White Fang

_Abandoned(?) Warehouse  
_ _9:00 p.m._

"Well, isn't this a tearful reunion?" asked Adam mockingly. "I'm hurt, Blake, I really am. Not only did you prevent us from getting all the _Dust_ on that train, but you go and partner yourself up with another Faunus!"

"You know why I left!" shouted Blake. "You were going to kill the crewmembers just because they were human! And you shouldn't talk, seeing as how you're WORKING with humans, too!"

Adam smiled sadistically. "What do you mean, 'were'?"

Everyone's eyes widened at the realisation as Blake gasped. "No… Y-You killed them…"

"Yes. And it was a joy, hearing them scream." Adam grinned with malice.

"Wow, Blake. This guy's a real ass," said Sun. "Can I take him down. Please?" He twirled _Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang_ around expertly.

"Shouldn't we worry about all the other guys he came with?" asked Amy, readying her _Piko-Piko hammer_.

"You're going to die tonight, bat-bitch." snarled Emerald, taking out a pair of jungle green weapons, turning them into gun form.

Rouge winked. "All's fair in love and thieving, hun."

Knuckles activated _Clan Blade_ , the wrist blades gleaming in the warehouse light. "This ought to be fun."

Tails turned _Techie Bro_ into battle mode. "Remember, don't kill any of them."

"Well, that gives us a big advantage," drawled Mercury, preparing his gun boots. "We won't have any qualms about killing you."

As if to emphasize his point, a lone White Fang member ran at them, and chaos ensued as the rest joined him. Knuckles retracted his claws and punched the ground while shouting _"Ground Shaker!",_ creating a huge shockwave that knocked most of the foot soldiers over.

Blake jumped clear of the blast and took out _Gambol Shroud_ , meeting Adam's sword in the middle. "Why did you leave?!" he shouted, thrusting his sword at Blake. The cat Faunus deflected the blows, astounded at her former mentor's ferocity.

"Maybe it's the fact that I don't like killing innocent bystanders!" she retorted, parrying at him a bit in return. Unfortunately, that left her exposed as Adam tried to slash her. However, he only hit an afterimage as the real Blake stood back a bit further away, and she shot off a few rounds from _Gambol Shroud's_ pistol form.

Adam blocked them with ease using his sword and sheath combo, _Wilt and Blush_. "Innocent? No one's 'innocent' when it comes to the degradation of our race! Every one of those dirty humans is guilty! The only way to get them to treat us right is by force!"

The bull Faunus then got knocked across the warehouse floor by Sun. "Your logic is all kinds of wrong, dude," he said, twirling _Ruyi Ban and Jingu Bang_ around.

"And how would you know?!" asked Adam angrily as he got back up.

Sun pointed to his monkey tail. "Well, what makes you think what you're doing is any better? The rest of us Faunus REALLY appreciate your killing and stealing to prove you're better than humans. I mean, after the news of a bad raid goes out, I can't even find a place to eat. OH, GODS!" Sun quickly twirled his staff as Adam fired at him a few times, blocking the shots.

"What's your point, you traitor?"

"Do I really have to spell it out to you? YOU GUYS MAKE THINGS WORSE FOR US,!" Sun responded, grinning. "Besides, how can I be a traitor if I never joined in the first place? Seriously, this group blows."

"You do know that Blake here was once a member, right?"

Sun separated his weapon into nunchuck form. "The fact that she left isn't a good argument, buddy."

Blake smiled at the support given by the monkey Faunus. Adam was furious at the interruption, and he came at him, swinging his sword.

Elsewhere, Rouge and Emerald were duking it out, and most of the White Fang wisely stood clear. "What makes you think you're better than me?!" the green-haired thief screamed as she fired at the white Bat.

Rouge laughed as she deflected the bullets using _Lovacs_ , Emerald's bullets meeting with hers in midair. "I never said that. You came up with that conclusion all by yourself, though I probably am." She flapped her wings, gaining some height over her opponent. "Oh, goody, my wings are healed." she said teasingly.

Emerald shifted her weapons into twin sickles. "Then let me ground you again!" She jumped up, trying to slash Rouge. The blades were about to connect, but a bullet from one of the pistols from one of Rouge's heels quickly dissuaded her from attacking.

As she landed, the young thief looked towards Mercury, who was filming them with his scroll. "Mercury, what the hell are you doing?!"

The young man grinned. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm gonna post this on the _RemNet_!"

"You're kidding."

"Nope! This is gonna make me famous!"

Any further comment was interrupted as Rouge kicked Emerald in the head. "Pay attention during a battle, sweetie. You might live longer!" The bat then saw what Mercury was doing, and she posed. "Be sure to get my good side, hon!"

"Rouge, could you cut that out?" requested Amy as she smacked a White Fang peon with her hammer. "We just rescued you!"

"Sorry, couldn't resist!" The Bat returned her focus to Emerald and quickly sidestepped a thrown sickle.

Meanwhile, Tails and Knuckles were busy fending off an attack by several White Fang. "Hey, Tails, give me a boost, would ya?"

Tails nodded and twirled his namesakes, grabbing Knuckles' wrists while doing so. When they got to a good height, Knuckles gave him a nod, and the fox let go. The echidna slammed into the ground, creating a huge pressure wave that knocked everyone back a good distance. "Tails, you go ahead and get us a ride out of here. I don't think we should walk home!" He said, punching another White Fang in the gut and launching him into a large group of renegade Faunus, knocking them down.

Tails, unnoticed in the chaos, flew to where a bunch of Bullheads was kept. He saw one that had an open door and went to investigate. "Hey, this looks promising!" he said to himself.

He entered the aircraft and studied the controls in the cockpit. Being the boy genius that he was, it didn't take him long to figure them out. "Hey, get out of here, this one's taken," a female voice said.

"Oh, sorry," Tails apologized. He was just leaving when he realized what just happened. "Wait a minute…"

A head poked out from above one of the wings of the Bullhead. "Oh, hi, Tails. How come you haven't left yet?"

Relief swept through the Fox as he recognized Tali. "Well, we rescued Rouge, but we ran into some… complications." The sounds of gunshots, explosions, and expletives echoed through the warehouse. "So we need a quick escape."

Tali smiled and got into the Bullhead's cockpit. "Well, get on, then. I'm driving. Oh, and make sure to point that cannon of yours to my head to make it more convincing."

"Sure thi-." Tali's request suddenly registered in the Fox's mind. "Wait, what!?"

* * *

Back at the battle, there was still a stalemate going on between Adam and Blake and Sun. However, the bout between Emerald and Rouge was heating up.

"WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE!" the young thief shouted, slicing at Rouge with each syllable. The Bat thief skillfully dodged or blocked each blow.

"My, you do have a temper! Almost as bad as Knuckie's, where was that cool confidence from earlier?" she teased. She shot at Emerald again, the young thief blocking the rounds with her sickles.

"Okay, that's it. I am one hundred and ten percent done playing around!" said Emerald, her red eyes even redder with fury. She swung at Rouge again, and the Bat tried to block it. However, the sickle she blocked wasn't there. In fact, it was coming at her head at high speeds, connected to Emerald's hand by a chain. Rouge barely blocked it in time, and flew backwards.  
Emerald jumped after her and swung with both hands, using her weapons' kusarigama mode. Rouge was not expecting an assault from such an exotic weapon, and strained to stay ahead of the small scythes. "Now THIS is a challenge!" she laughed in excitement.  
"You're mine!" Emerald shouted as she jumped towards Rouge, swinging the kusarigamas. The Bat calmly fired a pistol at one scythe, then the other, making them lose their momentum. Emerald was still going, however, and ended up with a heel to the face.

"Hmm, still no match for me, though." hummed Rouge in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Knuckles and Amy were surrounded by White Fang troops. "Hey Amy, you got any ideas to get out of this?"

Amy's eyes darted left and right, trying to find an opening. There weren't a lot of options available to them. Someone from the White Fang had grown a brain and decided to use one of the _Atlesian Paladins_ that were scattered around the warehouse.

Suddenly, the sound of a powerful machine gun filled the air, and the mech went down, causing mass confusion among the White Fang. Even more confused were the Mobians, until they saw the source of their break: a Bullhead airship. In it, they saw Tails pointing _Techie Bro's_ cannon at the head of a White Fang member.  
"Come on, guys, get in!" the Fox's voice shouted from a hidden speaker. The Bullhead shot around White Fang that were surrounding Amy and Knuckles, then lowered itself, allowing them to get on board quickly.

Rouge saw the commotion, and made a decision. "Well, it's been fun, but I've got to scram. See ya later, squirt!" The white Bat flew away, leaving a furious Emerald. She quickly got on the Bullhead, leaving just Sun and Blake.

"Hey, Blake, I think our ride's here!" said Sun. His and Blake's battle against Adam was reaching a standstill, and all three were pretty exhausted. However, Adam wasn't going to make leaving easy.

"You're not going anywhere!" he shouted, slicing at Blake. He hit an afterimage, but lashed out with an elbow, hitting the cat Faunus and knocking her to the ground. "Now I've got you," he growled, raising his sword. Blake shut her eyes, knowing her life was over. _'I'm sorry, everyone.'_ she thought sadly, thinking about her friends in Team RWBY, JNPR, and even the Mobians too.

The blow never landed.

"Boosh!" shouted Sun, using his _Aura Clones_ to attack Adam. The White Fang leader was knocked senseless into a pile of _Dust_ ammunition. "Gotta pay attention to the battlefield, bro. There's two of us here, remember?" The monkey Faunus walked over to Blake and held out a hand. "You okay?"

Blake grabbed his hand, then pulled him into a hug. "Thank you." she whispered in his ear.

Sun, blushing a bit, hugged her back. "What kind of friend would I be if I let you die?"

The two Faunus released each other after a few seconds. "Well, I'm tired of this place. You wanna hang somewhere else?" Sun asked.

"Hey lovebirds!" interrupted Rouge, using the speaker in the Bullhead. "Get your butts in here, we don't have all evening!" Sun and Blake decided to follow her advice, and they jumped into the Bullhead with everyone else.

Adam, seeing their prey escape, shouted, "Get the heavy weapons out! Kill them all!"

"But one of us is in there!" a White Fang peon objected. Adam brought both hands to the unfortunate Faunus' collar. "I! Don't! Care!" he said through clenched teeth. "They're getting away!"

"Looks like it's a little late for that," observed Mercury, sitting on a _Dust_ container.

Indeed, the Bullhead that was acquired by the Mobians was flying away, out of range of any weapons they had.

Rouge finally noticed that Tails had a cannon to the White Fang member who was piloting. "Well, well! I didn't know that you had it in you to take a hostage, Foxy Boy."

The White Fang member smiled and took off her mask and hood, revealing her black hair and red eyes. "Sup?" Tails put _Techie Bro_ into standby mode, grateful that he didn't have to continue the charade.

"Tali? Is that you?" asked Blake, recognizing the older woman's face. Tali stood up a little and allowed her squirrel tail to come into view.

"Whoa, back up," requested a confused Sun. "Why are you guys friends with a White Fang Faunus?"

"I'm going to ignore that." Blake said under her breath, glaring at the monkey Faunus.

Tali put her feet up on the dashboard of the cockpit after setting it on autopilot. "Were you told about a group of mercenaries led by a guy named John Shepard?" Sun nodded. "Well, I'm his fiance."

"Guys, before we go on, I'd like to thank you for rescuing me," said Rouge sincerely.

"What, you think we were just going to let you rot in there?" asked Knuckles. "As much as some of us may hate to admit it from time to time, you're our friend. Of course we'd rescue you."

Rouge smiled. "That was a very nice thing to say, Knuckie," she said. She then kissed Knuckles on the cheek, causing the Echidna to blush heavily.

The radio crackled to life before the mischievous bat could tease him about his face. _"Incoming Bullhead, this is Beacon Tower. Identify yourself."_

Tails took the radio. "This is Miles Prower, returning from our rescue mission."

Another voice interrupted. _"So, I take it that your extraction was a success?"_ the voice of Professor Ozpin asked.

Rouge took the radio and put it to her lips. "You bet it was!"

_"Ah, Miss Rouge. Welcome back. Do you or anyone else aboard require medical care?"_

"Thanks, but we're fine." The white Bat answered. She looked at the academy, relieved that her friends had rescued her before something terrible happened.

"I'm glad to be back."


	46. Mysterious Message

_Beacon Academy  
_ _Friday,_ _4:15 p.m._

The next few days were surprisingly peaceful for everyone at Beacon. Classes went by, Amy chased Sonic, Rouge recovered from her capture by Emerald and the White Fang, and Omega was back to full functionality. Overall, a sense of normalcy was reached.

Until a strange package came addressed to the Mobians, specifically to Sonic.

"Hm… this is rather strange." said Ozpin as he and the blue Hedgehog were looking over the package while Glynda faithfully stood close by. The package itself was a small box, and it had little weight to it.

"Yeah, no kidding," agreed Sonic. "There's not a return address, like most of the fan mail we've gotten since our introduction to your world."

"Indeed… It didn't trip any warnings in our screening procedures, so it isn't a bomb. Still, who knows what's inside it…"

Sonic looked over at Glynda and grinned. "Only one way to find out!" He took the package and ripped it open before she or Ozpin could stop him. They breathed a sigh of relief when the blue blur didn't blow up, and looked at the device in his hands.

It was a small disc, not unlike one used to play music in Remnant. "You guys were worried about a disc?" said Sonic, chuckling at their paranoia.

"You could say we're still worried. Look on the disc." said Ozpin. Sonic turned the disc. On it was the face of a bald man with goggles and a huge mustache.

"Oh, of course Eggman sent this" The Hedgehog gave Ozpin the disc. "Hey Professor, could you put it in?" He grinned. "Maybe it's a message of surrender."

"Or it's a virus. Ozpin, are you sure it's safe to do this?" asked Glynda, worried about the welfare of the Headmaster.

Ozpin turned to her, a reassuring expression on his face. "I'm sure it really is just a message."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, if it was a virus, he wouldn't have sent a disc over. Besides, he likes more flair in his cyberattacks. He'd be gloating in your face using your own computers, Shadow can back me up on that argument."

Glynda wasn't entirely convinced but allowed the Professor to insert the disc into the computer at his desk. The hologram lit up, revealing Eggman in all his obese glory.

 _"Greetings, Sonic! I'll bet you're cowering in fear about now, wondering what I'll do next!"_ Eggman cackled a bit, and Ozpin fast forwarded the message until he actually spoke again, which Sonic was VERY grateful for. _"Ahem. Now, my evil plans aside, I've, um…"_ Eggman hesitated a bit. _"This really hurts to admit this, but I need your help with something."_

"Whaaaaaat?" Sonic was dumbfounded. "Why would Egghead need my help?" He recovered, then smirked. "Is it to trash his robots again?" Glynda shushed him as Eggman continued.

 _"I've come across something very powerful and very dangerous. I call a temporary truce so we can deal with this together."_ The evil doctor leaned into the camera. _"Trust me, you'll want to see this. As a token of my good will, I'll allow you to bring anyone you choose- including that outdated bucket of bolts, Omega."_

Ozpin looked at Sonic. "Doesn't Omega want to blast Eggman into oblivion whenever he sees him?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, he does. It really must be serious, then."

Eggman continued, _"I'm attaching coordinates for me and your team to meet me at 8:00 tonight."_ He glared at the camera. _"Don't think this is permanent. I'm still aiming to create the Eggman Empire here on Remnant. This truce will end when we're done."_

Orbot's head popped in view. _"Are you sure you want to continue fighting, Boss?"_

 _"Of course I do!"_ Eggman shifted to his robotic assistant. _"I'm not doing this because I want to! If Sonic helps me get rid of him, that'll be one less obstacle in my path! Besides, he's probably going to benefit from this, too…."_

 _"Hey, Doc? You left the camera rollin', partner."_ said Cubot from off-screen, still talking in his cowboy drawl.

 _"I did?"_ Eggman looked towards the camera. _"So I did. Well, I have a few more closing words. Sonic, I know we don't trust each other, but I vow on my honour_ ("What honour?" questioned Sonic under his breath.) _as a man of science and evil that I will not harm you or anyone that passes through my gates."_ He held out his hands as he said it to show he wasn't crossing his fingers. _"Meet me at the coordinates at 8:00 p.m. tonight, and we'll deal with this together."_ The message ended, and the coordinates showed up on the screen.

"Well, Sonic? Do you trust him?" asked Glynda.

Sonic scoffed. "I trust him about as far as I could throw him." His expression turned serious. "That being said, something's got him spooked. It sounds interesting enough to investigate." He got up from the chair.

"Be careful, Sonic. Doctor Eggman may need your help, but he did say that it was a threat to both you and him," warned Ozpin. "I trust you to keep the companions you bring alive." He gave the Hedgehog the disc with the message.

Sonic took the disc, then went to find the others. On the way to the rooms, he ran into Amy.

"Oh, Sonic! I've been looking all over for you!" Amy gushed, excited to see him. She was about to glomp him in a hug, but Sonic held out a hand, stopping her.

"Hey, Ames. Could you get everyone, please? We've got important news." he said.

Amy smiled and saluted. "Anything for my Sonic!" She noticed his serious expression. "What's wrong?"

He looked at the pink Hedgehog. "Let's just say Egghead needs our help with something." as he pulls out the disc in front of Amy's face.

* * *

_Beacon Academy's workshop  
_ _30 minutes later…_

Everyone from Teams RWBY and JNPR, along with the rest of the Mobians, watched Eggman's message. "And you're sure we should trust him?" asked Blaze, who was sitting next to Silver and holding his hand.

"DANGER INHERENT WITH TRUSTING EGGMAN." droned Omega. He was fully repaired after his encounter with Emerald, and he really wanted to get out.

"Of course we shouldn't trust him," said Weiss. "He's trying to take over _our_ world here."

Ren nodded. "Still, he seemed scared about something. It's certainly sounds like something worth investigating."

Shadow looked around at the gathering. "We'll need to bring our heavy hitters. If this thing has Eggman spooked, there's no reason we should mess around."

Sonic nodded. "Let's get someone from each of our teams, including myself. Ruby, how do you feel about letting us borrow your sister?"

The hood-wearing girl shrugged. "Go for it. If you want damage, she's all yours. I want to go next time, though." Sonic grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

Yang jumped up from her seat and did some practice punches. "Hoo, yeah! I'm all fired up to pound some bots!" she said excitedly, then suddenly was giving a death glare from Omega and chuckled nervously, "Hehe, n-not you though Omega."

"MY ASSISTANCE MAY BE REQUIRED IF ANY ACTION IS NECESSARY AGAINST EGGMAN." Omega brought his machine guns out. "ESPECIALLY IF THAT ACTION REQUIRES TERMINATION."

Sonic whispered to himself. "Omega, Yang, myself… Shadow, you up for a little trip?" The black Hedgehog nodded.

"I wanna go!" shouted Nora. The other members of Team JNPR were understandably nervous about her declaration.

"Y-you sure, Nora?" asked Jaune. She nodded excitedly.

Sonic grinned. "That's fine with me. Amy, you can come, too. I wouldn't want to break up the 'hammer team'." Amy and Nora high-fived.

A hologram emitter shimmered, and Aeromi appeared. " _I'd like to go too. Maybe while we're there, I could hack into Eggman's database. We need more intel on his operations._ "

"ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT _AEROMI_ IS WELCOME TO COME WITH ME," Omega volunteered. "I CAN HIDE HER INSIDE MY SYSTEMS ON A DATA-DISC."

"Good idea. We still need to figure out where the last two _Chaos Emeralds_ are, so searching with his radar will help immensely." said Tails. Rouge was slightly disappointed that she wasn't chosen for the role of hacker, but understood that Aeromi would be far more mobile once she got into the system.

Sonic grinned. "Remember, we'll need to act surprised. He still doesn't know that we know are aware of his base's location." Everyone snickered, remembering how the base was discovered. He got up from his seat and grabbed _Cobalt Shard_. "Alright, guys. Let's see what Eggman wants us so badly for."

As everyone went to their places, Tails walked up to Sonic. "I hope you know what you're doing, Sonic."

The Hedgehog put an arm around this oldest Fox friend. "I have a feeling we'll need to cause a lot of destruction, and those guys know destruction. I want the rest of you prepared to come to our aid in case something goes wrong, though." His expression turned grim. "If something has Egghead running for OUR help, it's probably really bad."

The kitsune nodded, and as he went off, Sonic couldn't help but think, _'Who's this_ "Him" _that Eggman was talking about?'_

* * *

_Egg ARK  
Same time_

Eggman paced through his base, visibly nervous. "I may be able to keep him restrained now, but I have no illusions that even my superior skills can't keep him down for long…" He looked in a cell through the containment field, where a black figure was sitting quietly. "Don't get any funny ideas, you piece of scrap. When Sonic gets here, we'll deal with you soon enough." He left the figure alone, though there were plenty of security cameras watching his every move.

Metal Sonic chuckled as the doctor left. " _Oh, I'm sure you will, my ignorant creator._ " He pulled out the white _Chaos Emerald_ , looking into the gem. " _However, it will be ME who deals with you..._ "


	47. Tour of the Egg-Base

_Outskirts of Vale, near the Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _7:59 p.m._

The sun had just set, leaving Vale covered in a darkness lit only by the moon and the streetlights. Under a light near the edge of town was a gathering of beings that would probably be talked about by the older generation for months to come

The team responding to Eggman's request stood at the designated coordinates, a few miles outside the Forest of Forever Fall. Sonic was practicing his swordplay with Shadow while Yang was watching with interest. Nora and Amy were giggling to themselves, their conversation most likely about the boys they knew. The only motionless being was Omega, but that was because he was in deep conversation with Aeromi deep inside his mainframe.

After Sonic fended off a particularly vicious attack from Shadow, the black Hedgehog held out a hand. "We'd better stop. It's almost time for Eggman to arrive."

Yang sat up and stretched a bit. "Thank God, I was getting bored."

Sonic looked at Amy. The pink Hedgehog had worry in her eyes, and he had to ask about it. "Amy, what's wrong?"

"Sonic, I'm… afraid," she admitted. "What if Eggman doesn't keep his word after dealing with this threat he mentioned? What if he attacks us when we're all exhausted?"

Sonic was about to say some encouraging words, but Nora beat him to the punch. "I know! We'll break his legs!"

Everyone stared at her fierce expression at a loss for words for a few seconds. Sonic then started laughing, followed by Amy, then Yang. Even Shadow chuckled a little. Omega was the only one not laughing, but they could hear Aeromi's giggles from his body.

Omega moved his arm, pointing at the forest. "OBESE BEING DETECTED, HEADING FROM THAT DIRECTION."

Everyone stopped laughing and prepared for the mad doctor's arrival. The sound of maniacal laughter was heard as Eggman arrived in his Egg Pod from the trees a few seconds later. He lowered the pod in front of them. "Aha! Good to see you all! Now, we can get rid of this threat, and I can get back to conquering Remnant!"

Eggman's small speech was soon interrupted by the sounds of guns being drawn on him. Sonic walked up to the pod, _Cobalt Shard_ at the ready. "Alright, Egghead, before we do this, we'll need some more conditions. Specifically, one that doesn't allow you to harm us for at least 24 hours after we arrive at your base. If you don't, well, let's just say we'll let Nora loose." The orange haired girl once again donned her fierce expression.

Eggman put two fingers to his chin, considering this complication. He then nodded. "Very well. If that's what it takes to have your cooperation, then so be it." He then saw Omega and panicked. "I wasn't serious about bringing him!"

"IDIOT CREATOR'S MESSAGE SEEMED URGENT, AND THE OPTION WAS PRESENTED," the walking arsenal replied in a monotone voice. "SO WE TOOK IT." Yang stifled a giggle.

Eggman sighed. "Oh, alright. Let's just go." He took out a few small black discs and handed one to each of the group. "These will teleport you directly to my base. I want to at least keep the location a secret for now, so deactivate your GPS systems."

Sonic grinned. "Paranoid about us, much?" Nevertheless, he and the others turned off their GPS systems. Not that it would've mattered.

The mad doctor pushed a button on the dashboard of the pod. "Orbot, Cubot, prepare for our guests' arrival."

_"Yes, Doctor." "Yeehaw! Now we can have a real hoedown!"_

"So how do these work, exactly?" Yang asked, looking at her disc. There was a small button on the center.

"When I tell you to, just push the button. Are you all ready?"

Sonic did some leg stretches. "Bring it on, Eggface!" The others reported their readiness with less dramatics.

"All right, good. Now, push the buttons in 3… 2… 1!"

Everyone pushed the buttons on the discs at the same time. There was a bright flash, followed by a feeling that their bodies were being pulled apart. They closed their eyes from the feeling and the light. About five seconds later the feeling stopped. Sonic carefully opened his eyes and saw that he was standing in a living room type area that had a long of Eggman-themed decorations. He looked behind him and saw the others, including the doctor himself.

"Well, what do you think?" Eggman grinned proudly.

Yangshook off the dizziness and looked around. "I'm not impressed, Eggman."

He rolled his eyes. "Everyone's a critic…"

Orbot rolled up in front of everyone and popped up. "Greetings. I'm sure you will want to get started right away. Please, follow the Doctor."

"Oo, a ball!" Nora shouted excitedly. She got out _Magnhild_. "Who wants to play croquet?!" Orbot panicked and hid behind Eggman. "I'm not a ball, I'm a robot!" he shouted, scared.

"Alright, enough of that. I've got _him_ trapped in the deepest part of my base, but I don't know how long it will last." Eggman started walking into a hallway, and everyone followed him. Nora reluctantly put _Magnhild_ away and followed him, Amy sitting on her shoulder.

As they walked through the base, they glimpsed parts of Eggman's operations through the windows in the hallways.. Sonic watched as a _Beowolf pup_ was restrained and stuffed into an orb, mostly likely powering a new Dark Pawn. "Pretty big plan you've got going here, Doc."

"Not to mention risky as hell. What are you thinking, using these creatures of darkness?" demanded Shadow.

Eggman glanced over his shoulder. "Would you rather me use _small animals_? Besides, there are plenty of these creatures in this world, and no one seems to care if I use them as cannon fodder, heh heh." he chuckled. "In fact, I'd say I'm doing this world a favour. I'm decreasing the number of Grimm that you would have to fight anyways. Why not use them for my schemes? It's better than having them killing innocents, riiight?"

Yang and Nora looked at each other uncomfortably. Eggman did have a point in his logic. Since Eggman started using Grimm as power for his robots, the number of Grimm attacks drastically decreased.

Omega's red photoreceptors glared at Eggman. "YOUR LOGIC IS FLAWED, EGGMAN. YOU WOULD USE THE GRIMM-POWERED BADNIKS TO HARM INNOCENTS ANYWAYS. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO THAT SEEMS BENEFICIAL, IT'S ALWAYS FOR YOUR BENEFITS."

"Just like this errand," muttered Shadow. "If there's any constants in this universe, it's death, taxes, and Eggman being a selfish bas-"

"We're here," Eggman interrupted. He stopped in front of what looked like a high security jail cell. The interior was a bare white, and two Dark Pawns were guarding it. "He's in here." He waved an arm into the cell.

Everyone looked through the two-way mirror. "Who's in here? I don't see anyone." Nora inspected.

Eggman looked in. "What?! Where'd he go?!" His eyes shifted right and left, and he glanced at the robots. On closer inspection, the Pawns were offline. Upon observing this, he started to panic. "No, no, no, no…"

Sonic crossed his arms. "Eggman, if you led us out here for nothing…"

"I swear he was in here!" Eggman thought for a bit, then slammed the intercom. "Orbot, Cubot, where is that outdated abomination?!"

There was the sound of chairs moving around on the other end of the connection. _"According to the scanners, he's right next to you."_ said Orbot calmly.

Eggman became very red-faced. "Not Omega, I mean the _other_ one!" A drop of sweat rolled down his face as he heard Omega's weaponry loading up from behind him.

Tense seconds rolled by. _"He's in Grimm Acquisitions, Boss-man! And he's sure makin' a ruckus! Ah've never seen them like that!"_

Eggman turned to everyone. "Follow me, and quickly!" His pod appeared, and he jumped on and hovered quickly down the hallways. The group followed the doctor, Omega looking for an opportunity to deposit Aeromi into Eggman's computer systems.

They stopped in front of a large door, which Eggman was trying to open. "Come on, accept my code, you know it's me!" He slammed a fist beside the keypad. Omega saw a computer outlet near him, and he raised an arm. A cable snaked out from his clawed hand and attached to the outlet, allowing Aeromi into the system. " _I'm in._ " she said in computer speech that only Omega could hear. He spooled the cable back in as Eggman finally got the door open.

Inside was utter chaos. The various species of Grimm that Eggman had acquired were running amok in the room. Some Dark Pawns were trying keep them under containment, but a few _Beowolves_ leapt into them and started tearing the Pawns to pieces.

In the middle of the chaos stood a solitary figure. He looked like a Mobian Hedgehog, but a quick glance said that it was a metal one. He turned his head to the new arrivals and snapped his clawed fingers. All at once, the Grimm stopped their rampage. He walked towards Sonic's group, his metal feet echoing in the sudden silence. " _Well, well, well… I was wondering when you'd show up, Sonic…_ " His red eyes glowed ominously. " _My loathsome copy._ "

Sonic's eyes widened as he recognized the voice. He drew _Cobalt Shard_ out of the sheath. "Hello again, _Neo_ _Metal Sonic_."

" _Grimm Metal Sonic._ " the robotic Hedgehog corrected, with Metal Sonic's body covered in black oil-like skin with bits of cobalt blue showing here and there, and bone armour around various parts of his body.

"You don't seem surprised." observed Eggman, hiding meekly behind his pod.

"We met him earlier. Kicked his butt, too!" shouted Yang, activating _Ember Celia_. The others got their weapons out, ready to fight.

Grimm Metal Sonic grunted. " _You may have beaten me before, but that was because I was in a machine more inferior than this former weapon._ " He spread his hands, indicating the _Egg ARK_ as a whole. " _Once I've killed all of you, this will be MY base of operations._ "

Eggman revealed himself from the pod. "And what makes you think that I'll let you do that?"

Metal chuckled and waved an arm at the Grimm. " _These Grimm will listen to me._ " He pointed out his new form, with _Deathstalker_ -like armour plates on it. " _It's easy to control them when you absorb the data of the biggest in the packs._ " He gestured to the group. " _Leave the blue one. Kill the rest._ "

The Grimm leaped forward as the group started firing their weapons. Sonic dashed towards Grimm Metal Sonic, and the battle truly began.


	48. Sonic the Huntsman vs. Grimm Metal Sonic

_Egg ARK, Grimm Acquisitions  
_ _8:30 p.m._

The room was filled with the roars of Grimm and gunfire. Sonic's group was surrounded by the black creatures, fighting to stay alive. Sonic rushed towards Grimm Metal Sonic, hoping to at least slow down the monsters by removing the leader.

" _You're not leaving this place alive, my loathsome copy!_ " Metal Sonic bellowed as a sword came out of his right arm. His sword met _Cobalt Shard_ in a clash of sparks. His sword was a dark black, as if it was an extension of his arm- because it really was.

Sonic grinned. "Funny. I was gonna say the same thing, but without the 'loathsome copy'." They started exchanging blows, the level of swordplay astounding.

"There's too many of them!" shouted Amy as she bashed a _Beowolf_ with her _Piko-Piko hammer._ For every Grimm they killed, two more took their place. An Ursa roared and swiped at the Hedgehog, but she jumped at the last moment, shooting the Grimm with her gun-boots. "Eggman, why did you capture so many Grimm?!"

The evil doctor's head peeked out from behind his pod. "You lot destroyed most of my Dark Pawns in the _digital realm_! I had to compensate!"

Yang punched an _Ursa_ into a pack of _Beowolves_ , knocking them down. She then whipped her head towards him. "Do you even have any that can fight back?!"

Eggman facepalmed. "Of course I do!" He typed a series of commands into a keyboard on his pod. "Attention all Dark Pawns! Come to Grimm Acquisitions! We require your assistance!"

A few seconds later, the door to the room opened and about fifty Dark Pawns entered. They took aim at the Grimm with their guns and started shooting them. Many Grimm fell to their guns, and it looked like the tide was turning. However, one accidentally fired a rocket into a cage holding a _Nevermore_ , opening it. Freed, the Grimm eyed the Pawns with a malevolent gaze. With a flap of its wings, the robots were skewered by the feathers it launched.

Shadow held back a chuckle. "Looks like your cannon fodder didn't last long." He calmly took aim at the Nevermore with _Crimson Dusk_ and fired. The head of the giant bird disappeared in a cloud of red steam, and it collapsed to the ground, crushing some of the other Grimm.

"EXCELLENT WORK, COMRADE SHADOW," said Omega through the sound of his machine guns. "ELIMINATION!" He shifted to his grenade launchers. "FIRE! FIRE!" He launched a grenade into a cluster of _Beowolves_ , killing them in a fiery explosion.

"You're not so bad yourself, Omega." Shadow looked around. "Wait, where did Nora go?"

Omega was about to answer but was interrupted by a squealing noise. The source was a warthog-like Creature of Grimm. The _Boarbatusk_ stomped its feet at them angrily. It then rolled into a ball and sped towards them like a deranged tire.

"FORE!" The head of a large hammer slammed into the Grimm before it could hit either Shadow or Omega. The _Boarbatusk_ bounced around the room for a bit, slamming into a pack of _Beowolves_. Nora pumped her fist in victory. "Strike!"

"Are you playing golf or bowling?" asked Yang with a raised eyebrow.

Eggman pointed at a _Deathstalker_ from his shelter. "Who cares?! There's a big one coming!"

Shadow transformed _Crimson Dusk_ into katana mode and grinned evilly. "I like a challenge." He boosted towards the scorpion, yelling fiercely. The _Deathstalker_ snapped its pincers and tried to punch the black Hedgehog into a wall. Shadow dodged it and spun his body around, quickly slashing at the claw with his sword. The blade cut through a weak spot in the armour, and the claw fell to the ground.

The _Deathstalker_ , not at all happy about the loss of its claw, roared angrily and grabbed Shadow with the other claw before he hedgehog could notice. It eyed him furiously and stabbed at him with its tail. The Grimm became very surprised when it hit nothing, as Shadow used _Chaos Control_ and teleported away before it hit him.

Shadow reappeared and pulled out his green _Chaos Emerald_. "You'll have to do better than that to defeat the Ultimate Life Form, Shadow the Hedgehog! _CHAOS CONTROL_!" For everyone except Shadow, time slowed down considerably. The black Hedgehog quickly slashed at the scorpion in its slow state. He then snapped his fingers, and time went back to normal. The _Deathstalker_ , however, collapsed on the ground, dead.

Shadow gave a nod of approval at his handiwork, then rejoined the main battle.

* * *

_Inside the Egg ARK's computer systems_

Aeromi had her work cut out for her. Although she had gotten into the computer system okay, it wouldn't take long for her presence to be noticed. " _First things first… Gotta find the data center._ "

She was currently in a room with the same sort of atmosphere as that in the _Digital Realm of Remnant_ , except for a few small details. The lights were bright orange instead of white, and Eggman's logo was everywhere. " _Jeez, talk about a huge ego._ " Aeromi muttered. She walked towards a large computer monitor.

" _Bingo, this ought to tell me what we need to know._ " The AI typed in a string of commands on the keyboard in front of the monitor. A pedestal appeared beside it, and she placed her ID disc onto it. The disc glowed, indicating the requested information was being transferred from Eggman's systems to her disc. " _This shouldn't take too long…_ "

An alert flashed on the monitor. " _Huh?_ " Aeromi pulled up the alert.

_***Anomalous Chaos Energy detected*** _

" _Chaos Energy? Maybe it's a_ Chaos Emerald _…_ " She typed in a command to show the location of the energy spike.

A map of Remnant was pulled up, and Aeromi was shocked at what she saw. " _What? This can't be right… Are Eggman's computer systems as fried as his mind?_ " She tapped in a command to verify the location of the energy. The computer gave the same result. " _Oh boy… I'll be seeing some interesting reactions to this._ "

She added the coordinates to the data she was downloading, and when it was done, she took her ID disc and quickly made her way back to where she entered.

* * *

_Grimm Acquisitions_

"Ha! I never thought swordfighting with you would be so much fun!" Sonic laughed as he parried yet another blow from Grimm Metal Sonic. The battle had gone on for quite a while, and they both lost and gained ground. Sonic was covered with small cuts and bruises, but Metal wasn't exactly pristine, either.

Metal Sonic looked at his organic rival with rage. " _Don't be so cocky, Sonic. I'm just getting warmed up!_ " A white flash enveloped Metal, and all his dents and scratches were repaired instantly.

Sonic looked at him in shock and annoyance. "Aw, come on! That's not fair!"

Metal chuckled evilly and held out both arms. A second sword came out of his left arm, matching the one on his right. " _You should know by now from all your battles with my idiotic creator that there is no 'fair' on the battlefield. There's just living-_ " Metal brought his swords into an X-shape in front of him. " _-or dying._ "

The blue Hedgehog glared at Metal, then saw Yang just behind the robot. She reloaded her gauntlets, then winked at Sonic. His scowl turned into a smile. "If that's the case, I guess that means I don't have to fight you all by my lonesome."

" _What do you-_ "

Metal's sentence was interrupted as his head was embedded into the ground by an unseen source. Yang had punched Grimm Metal Sonic into the floor, her weapon giving her extra power in her punch. "Booyeah!" Yang cheered, _Ember Celia_ smoking slightly. "How'd you like that, you metal freak?!"

Grimm Metal Sonic slowly got up, the damaged parts of his head repairing themselves. " _You'll have to do a lot better than that…_ " At an unspoken command, a huge _Deathstalker_ skittered up and punched the girl into a wall with its huge pincers, creating a huge indentation in the wall. " _...puny human._ " A single strand of yellow hair floated down. The _Deathstalker_ watched its descent, as did Sonic.

The blue Hedgehog gulped. "Hey, Metal? Better revise that statement." he said.

" _Why? What can one puny human female do against me?_ "

As if in retaliation, a yellow fireball jumped out of the wall and hit the _Deathstalker_ , shattering the armor like cheap glass. Another punch in the same place, and the scorpion fell over, dead. Yang looked at Metal, her hair glowing and her purple eyes now red. Sonic edged out of the way, knowing what's about to happen.

Metal faced the enraged girl. " _You shattered Deathstalker armour in one punch…_ " he said, shocked.

Yang slammed her fists together before lunging at Metal. The robotic Hedgehog was still dumbstruck that she took down one of the toughest Grimm in the room, and he didn't react as fast as he usually would. She punched him with so much force that it launched him straight through a large piece of machinery.

Sonic walked over next to Yang. "Nice punch," he commented.

Meanwhile, the fight against the other Grimm was winding down. Thanks to the combined efforts of Omega, Nora, Amy, and Shadow, most of the Grimm were now slowly dissolving corpses on the floor. "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be." said Shadow as he reloaded _Crimson Dusk_. He glanced towards Omega, who was mopping up the last of the Grimm. "Come on, let's see if Sonic needs help."

"I doubt it!" Amy said confidence that Sonic will prevail.

Metal dragged himself out of the wreckage, a piece of pipe wedged into his torso. " _I admit, I… underestimated you flesh creatures._ " He pulled the pipe out, robotic fluid dripping off of it. " _I will not make that mistake again._ " The wound healed again, but it was slower this time, and Sonic caught a glimpse of white in the inner workings of Grimm Metal Sonic before the hole closed up.

Yang looked at Sonic. "I saw it, too." she said after reloading _Ember Celia_. Her expression was serious, bordering on vengeful.

Sonic glanced up at her and grinned. "How about the 'Flying Saw?'" Yang nodded as knelt down, allowing Sonic to get on her hands. She threw Sonic high into the air, and the Hedgehog curled into a ball and started spinning rapidly. Yang drew her fist back, and when the timing was just right-

_**BOOM!** _

The blonde punched Sonic, shooting him off at tremendous speed towards Metal. He drew his sword out mid-flight, so now he resembled a large saw blade. Sonic sliced cleanly through Metal's arm, and before the robotic Hedgehog could recover, Amy hit a still spinning Sonic with her hammer, sending him back towards Grimm Metal Sonic, slicing his other arm. Then Nora joined in, using her hammer like Amy's. He cut off his legs before being punched by Yang again. Sonic ping-ponged for a while between the four of them, parts from Grimm Metal Sonic flying off of him.

After a while, Yang caught Sonic, seeing that they did enough damage to Metal. The robot Hedgehog in question was not in great shape. The only recognizable part of him was the head, and only just. The rest of his body was a pile of broken parts and circuitry.

Metal glared at Sonic, his red eyes flickering weakly. " _~btzz~_ _Th-this… isn't… over… Sonic… ~btzz~_ " He seemed to gain a little strength. " _~btzz~_ _I will… replace you…~btzz~_ " His eyes turned black, and the sound of his machinery turning off was heard by everyone.

Grimm Metal Sonic was finally defeated.


	49. Someday, one day.

_Egg ARK  
_ _9:30 p.m._

Everyone stared at the husk that was once Grimm Metal Sonic. "Well, that was quite the fight." commented Amy.

"Is he dead?" asked Nora as she nudged one of Metal Sonic's feet.

Omega and Shadow walked beside her. "Normally, I'd say yes, but this guy has come back more than once." Shadow replied.

"AFFIRMATIVE. STATUE OF COMPLETE TERMINATION OF SUBJECT 'METAL SONIC': INCONCLUSIVE." Omega shifted his gaze to Metal's torso, attached to his head by only a few wires. "ANOMALOUS ENERGY READING DETECTED." He reached into Metal Sonic's chest and pulled out a glowing white gem.

"WHAT?!" Eggman rushed over, a look of surprise on his face. "That bucket of bolts had a _Chaos Emerald_ on him the whole time?!" He slowly got his emotions under control, and he grinned evilly as he pulled out his ray gun and pointed it at them. "Well, if you don't mind, I'll just take that."

Yang, Nora, Shadow and Omega pointed their weapons at Eggman in response. "You and what army?" Sonic said while he pointed to the Dark Badniks that were skewered by _Nevermore_ feathers. "Unless you have the robotic equivalent of a clown car, I don't think you have the means to stop us."

Eggman laughed nervously. "Ha… ha… I was just kidding, you can keep the _Chaos Emerald_. Before long, it won't even matter…" he said, whispering the last part under his breath.

They pretended that they didn't hear him. "Anyways, we're still in a truce, remember?" Sonic grinned. "Unless all that 'honour as an evil genius' was just a bunch of hokey pokey."

Eggman seethed angrily. "I will admit, the temptation is astronomical." He glared at his nemesis. "But mark my words, Sonic. I will enjoy killing you. My plans have not been stopped just because this room has been destroyed. But this is just a minor setback, nothing more." He pointed at the Hedgehog. "When I'm through with you, all of you will rue the day you decided to go against the Eggman Empire!"

During Eggman's stirring speech, Omega silently walked to a computer terminal, an astonishing feat for a walking steel death machine. The terminal was flashing in a pattern too fast for organic eyes, but Omega could see what the pattern was. A cable went from his chassis to an outlet, then spooled back after a few seconds. He made his way back to the others, Eggman none the wiser.

"Yeah, yeah, that's great and all, but can you get us home already?" Nora demanded impatiently. "Ren's making pancakes, and I want some before all the syrup is gone!"

Eggman rolled his eyes. "Fine. But to protect the location of my base, I'll have to transport you back the same way that you came."

Orbot and Cubot rolled up. "Doctor! We heard the commotion, and came to help!" The sight of the wrecked room registered in Orbot's processor, as well as the remains of Grimm Metal Sonic. "Oh, it's all over?"

"Oh, shoot! We missed the rodeo!" lamented Cubot.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Really? How could you tell?"

"Orbot, did you happen to bring the disposable teleporters?" Eggman demanded.

Orbot put a hand behind him and pulled out discs of a similar design to the ones that brought them there. "Of course! I found them next to your mustache trimmer." He gave them all a disc. "These will transport you back to Beacon Academy. The boss may not say it, but he is grateful for your help in defeating Metal Sonic."

"You mean 'grateful that we did all the work for him' type grateful?" asked Amy, giggling softly.

Orbot looked at her, surprised that she would ask such a question. "Of course!"

Sonic held up the disc. "Well, you guys can hang out here all you want, but I'm out of here. Toodles!" He pushed the button on the disc, and his body dissolved. Everyone else soon followed him, reappearing back in Beacon.

Eggman left the room with Orbot and Cubot, jabbering about fixing up the holes in the base. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by someone from one of the said holes.

In the shadows of the room, a mysterious female figure watched as Sonic and his friends vanished. She had a shallow cut black and red dress, as well as boots that went above her knees. More noticeable was the large rotary sword sheath that housed different types of _Dust_ blades, as well a Grimm mask that was way more elaborate than anything the White Fang wore. Under the mask, her red eyes blinked as she stood up. "Yang… We will meet soon." the mysterious woman whispered as she waved her sword and walked through the portal that was created, transporting her to an unknown location.

* * *

_Beacon Academy  
_ _9:54 p.m._

"So you prevailed against Metal Sonic yet again?" asked Tails.

Everyone who went to the _Egg ARK_ met up in the workshop with the rest of their respective teams. Sonic had just told them the events that transpired there, and was holding up the white _Chaos Emerald_ proudly.

"Yep, and he may not have been a shapeshifting dragon with are combined data, but he was still pretty tough. He kept using this _Chaos Emerald_ to regenera- OW!"

Sonic winced a little as Amy applied some first aid bandages to his cuts. "Oh, don't be such a baby, Sonic. You've handled worse than this." she scolded as she dabbed some disinfectant on a cut that was pretty deep.

"Seriously, are you okay?" Ruby asked with concern.

"I'm fine, really." He grins. "If you think this looks bad, you should see the other guy." he laughed, "Ow, it hurts to laugh."

Tails took the _Chaos Emerald_ and placed it in a special container next to five others. "Well, including Shadow's, we now have six out of seven _Chaos Emeralds_."

"Did Aeromi and Omega figure out the location of the last Emerald from Eggman's base?" asked Silver. He looked around. "Where are they, anyways?"

Pyrrha pointed to a corner of the workshop. Omega was plugged into a computer port, deep in talk with the A.I., "They're over there. They said something about double-checking the location due to a possible error."

" _We should have a location in a few minutes._ " Aeromi called out.

Sonic looked around and spotted some instruments. "Well, as long as we're waiting…" He ran over to them and picked up a guitar. "How about a song?"

Ruby grinned and grabbed a second guitar. "I'm in." She and Sonic high-fived as Knuckles got on the drum kit, Silver got on the bass, and Blaze on the violin.

_Crush 40- Live Life_

Blaze started off the song with an awesome violin solo for a few seconds then the others joined in with their instruments. Sonic then started singing 

**Take a look inside your heart**  
**What seems fair today**  
**Tomorrow it may not**  
**Just walk on a journey**  
**Don't stop reachin' high**  
**Don't let the time pass you by**  
**So many ways that you can try to forget**  
**So many ways you'll find, wake up to regret**  
**Oh!  
**Ruby joined in with Sonic's voices, together creating a very nice harmony in the song.  
**Someday, one day, We'll say live life I know  
****Hold on, hold tight  
****Don't let go, don't lose sight**

Everyone started dancing to the music, enjoying this brief moment of relaxation. Silver and Blaze were in their own world as they played, and Jaune and Pyrrha were in a similar state of mind.

**Feeling life erode**  
**Is one thing new on every turn**  
**But there are lessons to learn**  
**Take a look inside your heart**  
**What once seemed impossible**  
**Today is not**  
**So many ways that you can try to forget**  
**So many ways you'll find, wake up to regret**  
**Oh!  
**Ruby joined in with Sonic again.  
**Someday, one day, We'll say live life I know**  
**Hold on, hold tight**  
**Don't let go, don't lose sight**

Ruby joined in with Sonic's voices again.  
**Someday, one day, We'll say live life I know**  
**Hold on, hold tight**  
**Don't let go  
**Not wanting to miss out on the action, Ruby sung the next verse solo.  
**Can't imagine, can't imagine  
****Making it on your own?  
****You got it inside, you got it inside of you  
****So let it out**

**Someday, one day, We'll say live life I know**  
**Hold on, hold tight**  
**Don't let go, don't lose sight  
**Sonic joined his voice back into the song, getting attention by doing a front flip with the guitar in his hands.  
**Someday, one day, We'll say live life I know  
****Hold on, hold tight  
****Don't let go, just live life!**

Sonic went into another awesome guitar solo while sing the last verse of the song, and everyone cheered for the blue Hedgehog. He grinned at their reactions, and went back to singing as the solo ended.

**Live life!**  
**Don't let go!**  
**Live life!**  
**Live life!**

The song finished, everyone from Mobius and Beacon cheered. "That's my sister!" shouted Yang as she clapped.

"THE MELODY WAS PLEASING TO MY. AUDITORY SENSORS," droned Omega. "HOWEVER, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT AEROMI AND I HAVE DISCOVERED THE LOCATION OF THE FINAL _CHAOS EMERALD_."

"Finally. What took you so long?" asked Tails.

Aeromi materialized on a nearby holoprojector. " _He thought that the data was an error, and I don't blame him. This place is out there... in more ways than one._ "

Everyone looked at the E-series robot. "Really? Where?" asked Sonic.

In answer, Omega pointed at the window. Sonic and Ruby dashed around the window, searching every inch of it for the gem.

Shadow facepalmed himself. "You idiots… He was pointing at something beyond the window." His red eyes focused on what Omega was pointing at, and they widened in surprise. E-123 Omega was pointing at…

The shattered moon of Remnant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologise for this one taking so long, I've been busy with  
> A) Work and parents.  
> B) Trying to finishing off 'Reds and Blues watch Hellsing Ultimate Abridged' for Halloween.  
> and C) Deciding which song to use in this chapter: Live Life or Green Light Ride.


	50. Lunar Mission: Request

_Beacon Academy, Ozpin's office  
_ _Saturday, 9:00 a.m._

Ozpin looked at the data presented by Omega and Aeromi. "The moon, you say?" he asked, leaning back in his chair. Glynda Goodwitch watched the meeting from the side in silence.

" _Affirmative_ ," answered Aeromi from the hologram emitter on his desk. " _The energy detected by Eggman's sensors suggests a large source of Chaos energy being emitted from the moon._ " She pulled up a hologram of the moon. " _Comparing those readings to those emitted by the_ Chaos Emeralds _we already have, there is a 98.6% probability that it's a_ Chaos Emerald _._ "

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Why the slight uncertainty?"

"EGGMAN HAS BEEN KNOWN TO MAKE COPIES OF CHAOS EMERALDS FROM TIME TO TIME," said Omega. "IT MAY BE A STASH OF _FAKE CHAOS EMERALDS_ THAT BROKE OFF FROM THE SPACE STATION THAT'S GIVING US THESE READINGS."

" _Still, there were no indications that he's even seen the alert, let alone sent probes to investigate,_ " countered Aeromi. " _Either way, it would be worth our time to investigate for ourselves._ "

The headmaster nodded. "I agree." He leaned forward in his chair and made a steeple from his hands. "The question is how to get there? I'll be the first to admit that our space program is rather… lacking."

Glynda paced back and forth in thought. "I did hear that James was making an attempt at space exploration, even manned moon missions."

Aeromi looked at her. " _James?_ "

"General James Ironwood, head of the Atlas military," Ozpin supplied, then turned his head to the robot and the A.I. "I'll get in contact with him about giving us some more information. If we're in luck, maybe even a ship."

Omega bowed slightly. "YOUR ASSISTANCE IS MOST WELCOME, HEADMASTER." He turned to leave. Aeromi faded out from Ozpin's desk, leaving just the Headmaster and Glynda in the room.

The blonde woman sighed. "The moon… This is incredible. No one's been up there for twenty years, and we're just now going back."

Ozpin nodded. "I agree. It certainly has been a long time since then." The headmaster stood up and went to the window overlooking the city of Vale. He bowed his head, deep in thought.

She resumed her pacing, visibly more anxious. "This will be a nightmare just from a logistical viewpoint. Who's going to go up? Who will train the students that will inevitably go with the Mobians? Finally... they need to know about what happened to the first and last moon mission, Professor." Glynda turned her green eyes to Ozpin. "They need to know what went wrong, and what might be waiting for them."

Ozpin sighed. "This is true… I had hoped to bury those images away, but the stakes are too high. I only hope the general will feel the same."

He went to his desk and put in a call for Ironwood. The General's face soon came up on the screen. _"Ozpin!"_ He greeted the Headmaster.

Ozpin nodded in respect. "General. How are you doing?"

 _"I've got the Atlas council in an uproar about the programming flaws of the latest models of the_ Atlesian Knights _, but the patches were sent out, and there haven't been any takeovers since then."_ He smiled. _"Please pass along my thanks to Mr. Prower."_

Ozpin smiled back. "I'll make sure to do that." He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't react well to this new request. "That isn't the reason that I called, however."

Ironwood tilted his head curiously. _"Oh?"_

"Do you recall the previous discussions I had with you about our Mobian guests and their mission to retrieve gems called _Chaos Emeralds_?"

_"I do. They sound like amazing sources of power. I can't possibly imagine what use they could be against the Grimm."_

Ozpin sighed. "Well, it turns out that they have found all but one, and they need all seven to return to their homeworld. They require your help to find the last Emerald."

Ironwood's blue eyes met Ozpin's brown ones. _"Where is it? If it's in Grimm territory, I can dispatch troops to secure the location within six hours."_ Ironwood turned to an unseen monitor.

"It's not on Remnant, James." Ozpin clenched his hands. "It's on our moon."

Now, the general of the Atlas armed forces was known to be unshakeable in the battlefield. But when Ironwood heard those four words, his face paled in shock- and even more surprisingly, complete horror. _"No… It can't be…"_ He turned his head slowly and looked back at Ozpin.

"I'm afraid it's true. The Mobians' arch-nemesis, Dr. Eggman, may be known for treachery, but his sensors apparently tell no lies. The _Chaos Emerald_ is on the moon."

Ironwood looked horrified. _"No one can go back there, not after what happened to my crew on that expedition!"_

Ozpin knew that Ironwood wouldn't take the news well, but even he was surprised at the force of his refusal. "I know what happened to you and your crew, and I can't even begin to imagine the nightmares resulting from it, but you can't stop them from going. Those gems must not fall into the wrong hands."

 _"I know what you're trying to tell me, but I can't in good conscience allow more people to die up there!"_ By now, Ironwood was hyperventilating, fighting against anger stemming from intense fear.

Glynda walked up to Ozpin so both of them were visible to the general. "Listen, James… I've seen these Mobians do extraordinary things, things that no human Huntsman or Huntress could do. If anyone can survive on the moon, it's them."

Ironwood shifted his to Glynda, then back to Ozpin. _"I can't let them go up there. It's too dangerous. Is it truly necessary for them to have all seven of these gems to get back to their home?"_

The Headmaster gazed at the general. "It is, but there is another reason for their Emerald hunt besides getting back to their home planet of Mobius. Dr. Eggman is plotting something big, and the _Chaos Emeralds_ may be the only thing that will give them the edge they need if the worst comes."

Ironwood had a difficult choice here. Either he let the Mobians go to the moon (and their potential deaths), or make them stay on Remnant and possibly die against Eggman because they didn't possess their trump cards, the _Chaos Emeralds_. _"I'll have to think about it."_

Ozpin nodded. It was the best they could hope for, really. "Thank you, general. Truth be told, they may go up there without your permission, but this step could ensure a strong alliance between Remnant and Mobius."

 _"I'll have your answer by tomorrow."_ Ironwood looked at both of them before severing the connection.

"Well, he certainly is adamant about not letting the Mobians go to the moon," observed Glynda. "I don't think I've ever seen him this frightened before."

"Indeed… though not without reason." Ozpin typed a search into his computer. He pulled up a newspaper article dated twenty years ago. The front page showed four people in astronaut gear standing next to each other, smiling at the camera. The caption read, ' _Crew starts mission to moon, possible leads to off-world colonization_ '. One of the people shown was a younger version of General James Ironwood.

"He was one of the astronauts that went?" Glynda asked in surprise.

"Yes…" Ozpin placed a hand on his chin. "And the only survivor of the mission."

Glynda turned her head to him. "What happened?"

He shook his head. "They landed successfully, but James was the only person that left the moon. The Atlas Council didn't want people to cause a panic, so they wrote off the mission as a failure, discouraged all attempts to investigate the matter further, and canceled the space program. The General did confide in me years later, and I completely understand both the Council's actions, and his reluctance in sending anyone else."

Glynda looked at the photo. "If it wasn't a ship malfunction… Then what was it?"

Ozpin looked at her. "It seems that not even the moon is safe from the _Creatures of Grimm._ "

She stared at him. "Grimm? How can Grimm live on the moon?"

"Why are Grimm so attracted to negative emotions?" countered Ozpin. "They are a mystery to us, and it may always be so." He turned his chair around and looked at the shattered moon, barely visible in the daylight. "These 'Lunar Grimm' even more so, if the General's accounts are accurate."

Glynda sighed. "We may be in a time of peace, but it's moments like these when I have to wonder if we'll ever solve the mystery of the _Creatures of Grimm_."

"Yes… but the moon Grimm will be even more of a challenge for them." He sighed to himself as he stared at the moon. "I only hope they're ready."


	51. Unexpected Arrival

_Beacon Academy, Dr. Oobleck's classroom  
_ _9:50 a.m._

Ruby suppressed the urge to yawn as Dr. Oobleck went into another tale of historical facts in that fast tone of his. _'How much of this is really necessary?'_ she thought as she lay her head down on her desk, clearly bored.

She took out her scroll and typed out a message to Sonic.

_Ruby: "Did the general give you guys a message about going to the moon yet?"_

She sent the message, and a response came back as quick as the blue Hedgehog.

_Sonic: "Nope, nothing."_

Weiss looked over at Ruby, prepared to rebuke her for her inattentiveness in class but stopped when she realized that she was just as bored. _'I think Ruby's rubbing off on me,' the heiress thought, 'and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.'_

"Now, based on these facts, we can determine that while ocean colonisation is possible, the aquatic Grimm are more difficult to deal with than those adapted to the land, so..." Dr. Oobleck rambled on, not noticing the two bored girls.

Ruby perked her head up as she thought of a way that would not only make this class more interesting but would also possibly help Sonic and the others. She raised her hand in question.

Oobleck stopped his lecture midsentence. "Miss Rose? Do you have a question in regards to the subject at hand?"

Ruby blushed slightly. "N-no, it's not about ocean colonisation …" She took a deep breath. "But it is about something important. Has anyone ever been on the moon?"

The class stared at her for a bit, and Weiss suppressed the urge to facepalm. Dr. Oobleck, on the other hand, looked at her thoughtfully. "The moon? Well, there's a topic that's probably more interesting, truth be told." He zipped over to his desk and opened a book. "Let's see… The moon is a touchy subject among most government officials. Try to talk to them about a possible mission, and they immediately point to the walls and say something about killing the monsters on our doorstep instead of finding new ones."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "But what about the potential benefits of humans and Faunus working together to leave the planet?"

Dr. Oobleck zipped up in front of the heiress, surprising her. "Miss Schnee! I never thought I would hear you say the word 'Faunus' without scorn in your voice! Excellent, most excellent!" He adjusted his glasses. "In answer to your question, while we do have the technology to leave the planet, there just isn't much motivation to do so." Weiss was too embarrassed by the praise to respond.

The professor zipped back to the front desk. "Think about it. We've spent a large amount of time and money to defend the sanctuaries of the four kingdoms, but we've only succeeded in expanding them slightly since the _Great War_. All our attention is now on keeping the Grimm population down and strengthening our borders."

He let the class dwell on that for a little before continuing. "There was a mission to the moon about twenty years ago, but it ended in failure, and there isn't much else known about it."

"Why? Was it because of an accident?" asked the female student from Team SAGE, another first-year team that consists of a closed-off pyrokinetic as the leader; a blind Faunus; a shy yet energetic cryokinetic; and a flirtatious electrokinetic.

The doctor shook his head. "I'm afraid the details are classified, and only a select few know about them. At any rate, only one person survived the moon mission, and said person is now-"

The rest of his sentence was interrupted by a loud whooshing noise that shook the building slightly. "What was that? A Goliath stampede? A murder of Nevermores?" Dr. Oobleck picked up his canteen in reflex.

Ruby went to a window and looked outside. "No…" Her eyes widened in shock and awe. "It's…"

"Don't describe it, for I shall look at it with my own eyes!" The professor zipped up beside her. His jaw dropped at the sight outside. "Class, it's the army of Atlas."

* * *

 _Beacon's Courtyard  
_ _10:05 a.m._

Outside, the students gathered as large airships flew around the area. Glynda and Ozpin went to the landing area, where the largest one was docking. After a few minutes of activity inside the ship, the doors opened up. Two lines of soldiers exited before the leader appeared- General James Ironwood.

"Well, this is certainly a surprise," commented Ozpin as he and the general shook hands. "I didn't expect you to come with half of the military."

Ironwood laughed. "What can I say, I'm getting paranoid in my old age."

"That's one word to put it." Ironwood looked past Ozpin and saw a blue Hedgehog walked towards him. "For a second, I thought that Eggman built a huge fleet again."

Ironwood chuckled as he knelt down so he could look at the Hedgehog in the eyes. "You must be Sonic the Hedgehog. It's an honor to meet you in person."

Sonic gave him his trademark grin as they shook hands. "Likewise." _'At least he's calmer than Commander Abraham Towers of_ _G.U.N_. _'_ the blue blur thought to himself.

Ironwood stood up. "I'm sure we have a lot to talk about, and I hope that I can be of assistance in any way that I can."

"Thank you, General," said Sonic. "So, I heard that you maybe have a spaceship for us?"

The General sighed. "Against my better judgment, I have procured you and your friends a vehicle you can use to go to the moon. But!" He held up a hand before Sonic could get too excited. "I need you and your friends to come with me. I have some important information regarding the moon that you should know."

Ruby and Weiss, who just arrived on the scene after Dr. Oobleck let them out early, couldn't help but wonder if it was related to the reasons why the first moon program was shut down.

Sonic nodded, then grinned again. "Alright. Should we do this over lunch?"

Ironwood's somber look was enough to wipe the grin off of the Hedgehog's face. "Trust me… this isn't something you'd want to eat to." He walked back into the ship to prepare.

As Sonic rushed to get everyone else, his head was filled with all sorts of thoughts concerning Ironwood. What was on the moon that seemed to frighten the general so much?

Whatever it was, they were about to find out.


	52. First Moon Mission

_Atlesian airship hovering over Beacon airspace  
_ _12:00 p.m._

"Anybody have any ideas on what this is all about?" asked Silver.

All of the Mobians had gathered in a meeting room of sorts on the airship. Teams RWBY and JNPR were there as well, and all were sitting on chairs.

"Maybe he'll explain what happened to the first moon mission that was considered a failure," said Weiss. "It certainly is clouded in mystery."

Aeromi projected herself on the table. " _Tell me about it. It's so classified, not even a 'Smart' A.I. like myself can get through the firewalls to find out._ "

"I just hope it isn't anything scary…" murmured Jaune. Pyrrha squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Ironwood walked in, escorted by two of the latest models of Atlesian Knights. "Thank you for coming. I know you're anxious to begin, but can you please tell me your names?" Everyone introduced themselves, and the General's gaze lingered on Ruby and Yang. "Hm… Are you two related to a man named Qrow?"

"He's our uncle," answered Ruby cheerfully. "He taught me how to use the scythe."

"SMALL HUMAN FEMALE IS MOST PROFICIENT WITH THE USE OF IT." defended Omega. Everyone else nodded their agreement with his comment, making Ruby blush from the praise.

"How do you know our uncle?" asked Yang curiously.

Ironwood shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't answer that right now. I'm not at liberty to reveal anything." Before they could object, Ironwood held up a hand. "However, I can reveal information that may be vital to your mission to retrieve the _Chaos Emerald_ on the moon."

Everyone settled back in their chairs as Ironwood inserted a disc into a podium at the front of the room. "What you are about to see is highly classified. If word of this gets out, I won't hesitate to put any of you in jail."

"I'm not sure you could keep us in any place for long." commented Knuckles.

Rouge rolled her eyes. "I think he was just trying to make a point, hon."

Ironwood made a screen come down from the ceiling and dimmed the lights. "This is the point of view footage of the astronaut James Ironwood about twenty years ago, during the first mission."

The gathered Mobians and humans stared at him in shock. " _You_ were one of the astronauts?" asked Tails.

"Yes, that's right." He sighed. "I'll just be outside. I'll admit, this is very traumatic for me." He exited the room as the video started playing.

* * *

_The moon  
_ _20 years ago..._

"Captain James Ironwood, Log 2." A younger Ironwood looked out at the gray lunar landscape. "It's now the second day since we arrived." The camera on his helmet showed all sorts of craters left by meteors. "I still can't believe that we can't talk about this yet. Call me greedy, but I'd like at least some civilians to know about this historic moment."

The camera jerked slightly as a second astronaut slapped his back. "Come on, Woody. If people knew about this, everyone would want to live up here on this prime real estate." The face of the second astronaut came into view, covered by a reflective helmet. "Come on, Mike and Cassie just found something interesting." He got in a moon buggy and waited for the captain.

Ironwood chuckled. "Alright, alright, you don't need to ruin the moment, David." He got in the passenger seat on the rover. A piece of the moon blocked the sun briefly as David started driving them to the foothills of a large mountain. "What'd they find, lieutenant?"

"It defies all explanation, according to Cassie. I tried to get her to explain more, but she said it would be best if all four of us were present." David chuckled. "She seemed pretty excited, though."

"We're the first humans on the moon. I think we should all be excited." By then, the rover made it to the foothills. David parked it beside a cave and got out. Ironwood followed him, the dust kicked up from his footsteps hanging in the air for a few seconds due to the reduced gravity.

The two astronauts found the other two a few feet from the entrance of the cave. One of them had hung up lights over a section of floor that was cordoned off by tape. Ironwood slid back the reflective cover of his helmet and inspected the section of floor. "Cassie, Mike, talk to me. What makes this so special from the rest of the cave?"

One of them, slightly smaller than the rest of the crew, looked up from studying the floor. The hood was pulled back, revealing a woman's face with blonde hair and gray eyes. She wore a badge on her suit that had her name- Cassie. "It's absolutely incredible!"

The other, a man with a dark complexion, purple eyes, and black hair, looked at Ironwood. "This will be hard to believe… but we have reason to believe that there was life on the moon." The badge on his suit indicated that his name was Michael.

Ironwood raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to explain that to me. Paleontology was never my strong suit."

Cassie pointed at the section of floor, which had many small holes. "These holes are similar to footprints made by some of Remnant's insects. I know, I know," she said, noticing Ironwood's skeptical look, "nothing should survive in a vacuum. But the footprints go up and down the caves, at least those that we've looked into so far."

Ironwood looked down, not seeing the pattern, but trusting his fellow astronaut. He looked over at David to inspect with him but stopped. "Wait… what about those?" He pointed at a similarly disturbed patch of ground about six feet away.

Mike went to investigate. "Good eyes, Captain. It's the same pattern of tracks." He took out a flashlight and lit up the ground. "Hm… Cassie, I think we might want to revise the size of these creatures. They were bigger. Much bigger." A strange sense of foreboding loomed over the astronauts and the guys watching the recording.

David stood up from his kneeling position. "I'll go get the camera. We'll need to document this find." As he walked back towards the moon buggy, he tripped on a rock embedded in the cavern floor. He caught himself with his hands before his visor could hit the ground. David froze as the others rushed over to him. "David, are you okay?" asked Cassie in concern.

David didn't respond at first, he just kept staring at where his hand had gone when he caught himself. "Um, guys? I don't think those footprints are fossils…" he said, his voice noticeably shaky. He lifted the hand from the ground, and the other astronauts joined him in his sudden fear.

David had landed his hand in a track of those mysterious footprints, but when he pulled it away, the imprint of his glove interrupted those footprints. "This isn't an old trail… this is recent. Very recent."

The screech of an alien creature echoing in the cave confirmed his suspicions. The sound of footprints was also heard, and they were getting closer. "What… what is that?!" screamed Cassie.

Ironwood pushed down the overwhelming fear that bubbled up inside him. "Everyone, get back to the ship. NOW!" His shouting snapped the others out of their fear-induced daze, and all four of them ran towards the exit about a hundred feet before the first creature appeared from a side cavern.

The best way to describe the creature would be a huge jaw on four spider-like legs. It was eight feet tall, and the legs made it look six feet wide. Two antennae jutted out from the sides of the creature's head. However, the most frightening aspect of the creature was that it was all black, and it had a white mask-like bone structure where the "face" would be. Glowing red eyes looked at the four, and it screeched loudly as it ran towards them.

Mike made the mistake of looking back at it, and the creature stabbed his midsection with a huge leg. His suit started spewing oxygen rapidly from the hole. "I-it's a G-Grimm…." he whispered before the creature ripped his head off with its huge jaw-like pincers.

Ironwood cursed himself for leaving his friend, and urged the others to continue. They passed another side cavern, where two more of the insect-like Grimm appeared and ran after them. "We've got to get to the buggy!" shouted Cassie.

The three astronauts reached the exit of the cave and found themselves blocked by two more of the Grimm. One of them raised a leg and lunged, piercing Cassie's helmet and killing her instantly. The Grimm gathered around the body like a pack of wolves on a deer. This gave David and Ironwood the opportunity to escape.

Ironwood quickly got on the buggy and drove off with David, the adrenaline still high in both of them. "Grimm… on the moon…" David looked at Ironwood with despair in his eyes. "We should have brought weapons! We should have expected this! We're astronauts, not Huntsmen!"

"We can't mourn them right now," said Ironwood. "We need to get out of here. Look, there's the ship." He pointed at the lunar lander they came in on. It was really nothing special, but to the fleeing astronauts, it was like a beacon of hope.

A loud screech filled the air, impossibly heard through the vacuum of the moon. David looked behind them in fright. "Oh, no… James, step on it!" One of the insect-like Grimm was following the buggy, and it was catching up.

Ironwood slammed the accelerator down, giving the buggy a burst of speed. The vehicle quickly made it to the lander, but the bug was still approaching, attracted to the astronauts' despair. He got out and started running towards the lander, but stopped when he saw that David wasn't following. "What are you doing?! We need to get out of here!"

David looked back at Ironwood, a defeated look on his face. "That Grimm will reach the lander before the launch sequence begins. If I stay, I can at least slow it down."

Ironwood grit his teeth, conflicted. David smiled at him. "Go… Tell our story, make sure nobody can live this nightmare."

The astronaut nodded, defeated. "I will." He ran to the lander to begin preparations for an emergency startup. He ignored the screaming that came from his radio and lifted up, exiting the moon's atmosphere.

Ironwood sighed in despair as he mourned the loss of his comrades.

He went to a recording device and turned it on. "Captain James Ironwood, Log 3," he started, his voice cracking slightly. "My fellow astronauts David, Cassie, and Michael have all been killed by Creatures of Grimm that reside on the moon. I alone survived and escaped them."

He took a deep breath and continued. "I have come to the conclusion that colonization outside of Remnant is not feasible, and the Grimm may be on all the planets in our system. I strongly advise the council to abort all missions outside our planet. We've got enough monsters on Remnant. We don't need to look for more."

He turned on an emergency beacon. Only then did he break down and cry for his fallen friends, his tears drifting around the cabin thanks to the lack of gravity.

"No place is safe from the Grimm."

* * *

_Present day..._

After the recording had finished, the Mobians and the students from Beacon were silent. Small wonder, since they just witnessed a great tragedy. Dispite the Mobians already seen death and destruction from the _Black Arms invasion,_ they still shiver at the site of blood and loss. As for the Beacon students, everyone had mixed emotions, mostly sadness, fear, and anger to name a few, for what the lunar Grimm have done.

The General walked back in and looked at the gathered beings and asked a simple question: "Are you so eager to go to the moon now?"


	53. Countdown to the Moon

_Atlesian airship over Beacon airspace  
_ _12:30 p.m._

Shadow was the first to speak after the video was done. "So… this is why all files related to the first mission are classified…"

General Ironwood nodded. "Yes, and why the Atlesian Council forbade all other attempts to go to the moon."

"How do the Grimm even survive up there?" asked Blaze. "That doesn't seem physically possible at all."

Tails put a hand to his chin in thought. "Well, insects, in general, have amazing adaptability on Mobius, and I'm sure it's the same for Remnant. Maybe these Grimm have bodies that can withstand the cold temperatures and the vacuum of the moon."

"Plus, the Creatures of Grimm don't need to feed on humans at all," commented Weiss. "They just choose to. Maybe they can go into hibernation."

"Can we talk about the fact that we just saw people get killed by GIANT BUGS?!" Jaune yelled. His face was very pale, and it's worth mentioning that he was doing his best not to vomit.

"At any rate," interjected Ironwood, "those who choose to go to the moon will be more equipped than my crew. In addition to your personal weapons, I will lend you two _Atlesian Paladins_ and two _Spider Droids_ to assist in protection."

Everyone's jaws (sans Omega) dropped when they heard this. "Sweet Chaos, isn't that overkill?" exclaimed Sonic.

Ironwood shrugged and smirked. "In the military, the lower ranked officers have a saying: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. And considering what you'll be up against, you'll be glad you have them."

Shadow laughed at that. "General, you and I are gonna get along just fine."

"INDEED." agreed Omega.

"Before you all get ahead of yourselves, the people going must undergo an intense week-long training session. I have talked with Professor Ozpin, and he told me the gravity of your situation," said Ironwood. "Therefore, your teachers will give you a reduced amount of homework."

"Sweet!" exclaimed Ruby happily.

"I wouldn't be too excited, Red," said Rouge. "Astronaut training programs are pretty intense back on Mobius, and I imagine this is no different, especially if it's only a week long."

Ironwood nodded. "You are correct, Rouge. Also, you will need to be fitted for suits." He sighed. "It's going to be a nightmare to get you Mobians fitted-"

"Actually, General, I think we're good." Sonic interrupted.

Ironwood looked at the blue Hedgehog in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"We can survive in a vacuum without a suit," explained Tails. "Most of us from Mobius have experienced this phenomenon firsthand." Those who had been to _Space Colony ARK_ nodded their heads.

"How is this even possible?"

Tails shrugged. "Scientists still haven't figured that out. We would still need to breath real air, but not for a week."

"And I'd seriously doubt we'd stay up there with giant bugs for that long." grunted Shadow.

Ironwood breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I guess this means that I need suits for you eight." He looked at Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"Um, General?" Jaune raised his hand nervously. "D-do all of us have to go?" The leader of Team JNPR was very freaked out about what he just saw though he hid it surprisingly well.

"That's for you all to decide. Keep in mind there will be limited space on the ship."

Everyone in the group looked at each other. "Well, guys? What do you think?" asked Sonic.

"I'm afraid to say it, but I think that Team RWBY should be the ones to go to the moon," said Ren. "Your weapons and _Semblances_ will be more effective on the moon than ours."

"Awww, I wanted to go to the moon!" whined Nora, only for Ren to look at her to stop complaining. "Fine, but you'd better bring back a moon rock!"

Yang grinned. "Consider it done!"

Jaune sagged in his chair in relief. "Oh, thank God. I'm not sure my pants would have survived if I saw those bugs in real life." Pyrrha patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"Okay, so Team RWBY's going… Now which one of us should go?" asked Knuckles.

"I call dibs!" Sonic quickly shouted.

Shadow smirked. "If Sonic is going, I'll go, too." Omega also reserved a spot for the mission, saying that his weapons would be needed, and he wouldn't use any air either.

"My powers will probably be useful up there." stated Silver.

Tails raised a hand. "My technical expertise and flying experience will be necessary. We'll give you a full roster later this evening."

"That reminds me- what kind of ship is it that we're taking?" asked Sonic.

Ironwood smiled. "Allow me to show you."

Ironwood motioned the group to follow him. The general led them through the ship until they arrived at the vehicle hangar. Many Atlesian dropships were in storage here, ready to be deployed at the sign of any threat. "A little bit much for a visit, don't you think?" asked Knuckles.

"When I corresponded with Ozpin, he told me about what this Doctor Eggman could do. I don't want to take any chances. Also…" Ironwood glanced at the Mobians. "He told me about _Dralux._ " he said in a hushed tone.

Everyone in the group exchanged looks. "Well… I guess there's no denying that Eggman, and by extension, _Dralux_ , pose great threats to the planet. The question is, what will you do about them?" asked Sonic. "I'm guessing you didn't bring this huge army just for giggles."

Ironwood chuckled. "Your guess would be right. While your team is on the moon, I plan to strike Doctor Eggman at his base and eliminate this threat to Remnant."

"Uh… hate to break it to you, General, but we kinda trashed the place already." said Yang.

"That was just the unintended consequence of eliminating Grimm Metal Sonic. He won't be producing Dark Badniks anytime soon," countered Shadow. He put a hand to his chin in thought. "Still, as some of the agents at G.U.N. like to say, 'the best time to kick an enemy is when they're down. In the head, preferably.'"

"INCORRECT" Omega spoke up. "I HEARD THAT IT'S USUALLY IN THE-"

"Alright! Don't finish that sentence, Omega!" interrupted Rouge. "There are children present."

Ironwood stopped at a set of doors. "Alright. This is the ship." He pressed a button that opened the doors.

Inside was a sleek ship made of a dark metal with sweeping lines and huge engines at the back. Everyone looked at it in awe. "Sweet Chaos… It's beautiful…" breathed Sonic.

Shadow elbowed him in the stomach. "You just say that because it looks fast."

The blue Hedgehog glared at Shadow, then shrugged. "Yeah, you got me there."

Ironwood walked up to the ship. "This is a ship the Atlesian Military shipyards built when we were still interested in going to the moon. It's been gathering dust in a hangar since the space program was shut down, and we started devoting resources to building the satellite network and C.C.T.S. that we have now."

Tails approached it, his eyes sparkling at the sight of the ship. "Can it fly?"

"It can, but some of the hardware in the ship is outdated and doesn't function quite as well without the use of an Artificial Intelligence program to accomplish the different duties efficiently."

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances. "Well, fortunately for us, we have an A.I."

Aeromi projected herself on a nearby emitter. " _Yay! I get to fly a ship!_ " she cheered.

Ironwood and the others chuckled at her enthusiasm. "We'll get the proper equipment set up for your friend here." His expression turned serious as he faced the group. "But while that's going on, the ones who are going will be trained for zero-gravity environments. We have a lot of work to do, and a short time to do it in."

The members of Team RWBY looked at each other, then back at Ironwood. "Well, let's get started, then." said Ruby, smiling excitedly. "This is gonna be AWESOME!"

"Prepare for whole world of never-ending pain, kiddos." Rouge warned.

* * *

_Egg Ark  
_ _Same time..._

"Well… this is an interesting development." commented Cinder Fall. She was watching a hacked security feed transmitted from the ship to Eggman's base. She swiveled her chair to face the doctor himself. "Grimm on the moon… so this is why the space program was closed."

Eggman nodded. "Yes… but even more interesting is that miserable Hedgehog is going to go up there with some Beacon students- ones that interfered with your plans in the past, right?"

Cinder nodded. "Indeed…" A sinister smile crossed her face. "It seems we've been given a great opportunity."

Eggman leaned towards her in his desk, listening intently.

"It would be a shame if there was an accident with the fuel cells while on the moon… They would be stuck with no way off, and if the Grimm don't kill them first, they would slowly die of asphyxiation… truly a tragic way to go."

The evil doctor grinned evilly, approving of this plan. "I'll get right on it."

Cinder's smile turned into a disapproving frown. "I think… not."

"And what makes you think you can order me around, you whelp?" Eggman glared at her angrily.

"I've lost faith in your abilities since you let those brats into your base to get rid of a robot that YOU created." Cinder stood up in front of the doctor. "Also, the subsequent destruction of the base has no doubt caused delays in the production line of Dark Badniks. Your presence is needed in Mountain Glenn where the secondary production line is."

"And where _Dralux's_ energy is being held…" Eggman sighed. "Your arguments are logical. But who else has the knowledge to sabotage the ship in the right way?"

Cinder's smile returned. "This job requires a woman's touch." The doors to the office opened, and a girl with brown and pink hair walked in. She held an umbrella with one hand over her shoulder, and she bowed gracefully to Cinder and Eggman in greeting. "Neo and I will be the ones to sabotage the ship."

Eggman looked the younger girl over. "Your associate stands out more than a little... are you sure about this?"

"Worry not, Doctor. Soon, our nuisances will be a thing of the past."


	54. The Night Heist

_Team RWBY's dorm room  
_ _Friday, 8 p.m.  
_ _14 hours until launch_

Ruby's shoulders sagged with relief as she fell on her bed exhausted. "Thank god it's Friday…" she moaned, her voice muffled by the pillow. "That's some intense training..."

"Yeah… I know that Beacon is known for being strenuous at times, but being an astronaut is even more tiring." Weiss agreed as she rubbed her partner's back.

Blake stretched with her natural feline grace. "I can almost hear Rouge's 'Told you so!' concerning the difficulty of astronaut training."

In contrast to everyone else, Yang was still pretty excited and full of energy. "Guys, come on! We're going to the moon tomorrow!"

Ruby perked up hearing this. "That's right! We'll finally use this abuse to work!"

"Still, I wouldn't get too excited. We may have a lot of firepower, but something tells me that won't be enough up there," Weiss sighed. "We didn't even get trained on using the Paladins, either."

"Yeah, why would Ironwood give us two walking steel death machines if none of us knows how to drive them?" wondered Yang.

"I heard that the General is sending two mercenaries with us. They're the ones who will use the Paladins when we're on the moon." The heiress frowned disapprovingly. "I hope that he knows what he's doing."

"Mercenaries? Can't we call them something else? How about Freelancers?" the crimsonette referred.

Blake rolled her eyes at Ruby's comment. "At any rate, General Ironwood seems to trust them with a mission this important, and we'll meet them tomorrow morning. For now, let's get some rest."

The other girls nodded and got into their pajamas. As they lay in bed preparing for whatever may come tomorrow, Ruby couldn't help but think that they were near the end of their adventures with the Mobians. _'I don't want to say goodbye to Sonic or Shadow… '_ she thought sadly as exhaustion finally took over and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

_Bullhead on approach to Atlesian airship hangar  
_ _1:00 a.m.  
_ _9 hours until launch_

"Base One, this is 479er, requesting permission to dock."

The radio crackled a bit as the traffic controller in the airship responded to the pilot's request. _"479er, state your business."_

"Delivery of some last minute parts requested by Miles Prower. I won't pretend to understand what they are, but the names are impressively long." the pilot of the Bullhead responded as she steered the ship to the larger one hanging over the lake beneath Beacon Academy.

The traffic controller chuckled in amusement. _"Right on schedule, 479er. Go to docking bay Alpha-2."_

"Understood." 479er smoothly brought the ship to a halt inside the landing bay. As it powered down, two figures silently jumped from the Bullhead onto the hangar floor. The huge airship was operating with a skeleton crew at the moment, so their entrance went unnoticed.

Cinder smirked as she and Neo made their way towards the secret spaceship hangar. She was wearing a black catsuit that showed off her curves, and a mask similar to one worn at masquerade parties.

Neo, however, still wore her traditional clothing so if the mission was compromised, any attention would be focused on her instead of Cinder. This was worked out beforehand, and although Neo wasn't too pleased about the arrangement, she agreed to it.

The two had snuck onto the Bullhead before it took off, and now they were ready for their mission. "Neo, I'll go to the security room and make sure things stay quiet," said Cinder. "You go to the spaceship bay and deliver our package. Take out any guards you see, but do it discreetly. No killing anyone. We don't want them to delay their launch." Before Neo could leave, Cinder held her by her elbow. "Roman speaks very highly of you… for your sake, he better be right."

The girl (who was modelled after ice cream) smiled and nodded, not caring about the veiled threat. She wrenched her arm away and walked into the hallway that led to the spaceship.

Cinder carefully snuck through the ship until she reached the hallway leading to the security control room. Unfortunately for her, there were two guards standing outside the room. She clenched her teeth as she tried to find a way to take them out. Her amber eyes glanced above the guards and rested on an air duct that was hung on the ceiling by a few wires. _'There's an accident waiting to happen…'_ she thought, smirking to herself.

The woman waved her hands and used her innate fire Dust capabilities to flash-forge two black swords. She then put them together and transformed them into a long black bow. She put an arrow on the string and aimed it at the air duct. With a musical ***twang*** , she released the arrow, causing the air duct to fall on the guards and knock them both out.

"Perfect... I do _so_ love it when a plan comes together." Cinder purred as she retrieved her arrow. She took a Key Card from a guard and inserted it into the slot on the wall. The door opened, and Cinder walked in. There was one person on duty, but the security officer never knew what hit him, literally.

She placed the officer on a nearby chair as if he was taking a nap, then sat in the chair. She typed in a few commands and pulled up the security cameras on the monitor. Cinder typed in a few more commands so that key cameras would go on an infinite loop, and all evidence of her own entry was erased.

 _'Excellent… now to alert Neo.'_ She pulled up a camera that was pointed at Neo and moved it back and forth, signaling her to move. Neo bowed to the camera and walked towards the spaceship hangar, her umbrella over her shoulder.

* * *

_Secret Hangar  
_ _2:00 a.m.  
_ _8 hours until launch_

Tails rubbed his tired eyes as he was finishing up the wiring for the fuel intake of the spaceship, now named the _Ogygia_. The ship was more advanced than anything on Mobius, and Tails was loathe to admit that some parts were even more advanced than anything he built- The _Tornado X_ and the weapons he built for his friends exceptions to the rule. Even so, it was still pretty obvious that the ship was less advanced in comparison to the rest of the Atlesian ship.

"I just need to finish connecting the air compressor to the oxygen recycler… There we go!" he finished the wiring and shut the panel.

Aeromi fizzled into existence at a nearby holographic projector. " _Tails, I think you should get some sleep. I know I'll be the one flying for most of the trip, but I'll need a set of alert eyes in a worst-case scenario. You're not good to us if you're tired._ "

The Mobian Fox sighed. "Yeah, you're right…" He walked to the interior bay of the _Ogygia_ , where the Spider Droids and Paladins were folded up to conserve space. He laid down on a cot he set up there earlier. "Aeromi, initiate a virus scan. We don't need you glitching out at a critical moment." he said, directing his voice to the A.I.'s holographic avatar.

Aeromi nodded. " _Good idea, Tails. I'll need to shut down for a half hour, but I'll get back to integrating all the system software after I boot back up. I'll alert you if I need immediate assistance._ " The A.I. faded out as Tails closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep very quickly.

This was extraordinarily convenient for Neo, who just walked in and heard the conversation. _'An A.I.?'_ she thought, her eyes turning white in panic. _'They didn't say anything about an A.I.!'_

Neo just stood still for two minutes, fearing that she might be discovered. When there was no alarm, she carefully walked across the hangar to the _Ogygia_. She entered the ship, mindful that too much time would expose her and Cinder, and all their plans would be ruined.

She opened a hatch near the engines and found the fuel intake mechanism. She disconnected the wiring and took out a small red cylinder. She then connected the wires through the cylinder, completing the circuit. It would not interfere with the flight to the moon, but once they brought the engines back online in a low-gravity environment…

Neopolitan allowed herself a smirk of triumph. No one would suspect the ship was sabotaged. She carefully placed the cover back on and swiftly exited the ship, being careful not to wake Tails or disrupt Aeromi's debugging process.

She waved a hand at a camera, indicating to Cinder that her mission was complete. Now they just needed to get out alive and preferably undetected.

Back in the security room, Cinder smiled as she erased the footage of Neo in the hangar. She then took a data card and inserted it into the console.

The card had a computer virus on it that would continue to put the cameras on an infinite loop. The genius bit of it was that after a few minutes (in other words, after Cinder and Neo left), it would resume normal camera operations one by one before deleting itself from existence.

"It seems that the mad doctor is useful for something after all." Cinder said to herself with satisfaction as she retrieved the data card.

She got up from the chair and exited the security room, stepping over the unconscious guards and sneaking her way back to the Bullhead hangar. Neo met up with her midway, and they both jumped on a leaving Bullhead.

Cinder glanced at the other girl. "I trust everything went well on your end, Neo?"

She nodded. _"Yes, but there is something that you should know."_ Neo texted, proceeded to tell Cinder about Aeromi.

Cinder put a hand to her chin. "An artificial intelligence program, you say?"

_"Yes. Quite possibly a 'Smart' A.I. at least."_

The black-haired woman pursed her lips. "This isn't good. I'll need to contact Eggman and tell him that his base's location is compromised." She straightened her posture. "At any rate, I'm pleased with your performance tonight, Neopolitan. Those fools on the moon won't suspect a thing tomorrow."

She and Neo shared a triumphant smirk at their success. "Soon, Team RWBY and four of the most dangerous Mobians will die."


	55. The Launch

_Beacon Academy,_ Ogygia _launch pad  
_ _8:00 a.m.  
_ _2 hours till launch_

Tails looked at the outside of the _Ogygia_ , proud of himself. In just one week, he had taken a barely serviceable ship and turned it into something that could fly into space. Sonic walked up beside the Fox and patted an arm across his shoulders. "Weather's perfect, everything is ready, and the girls are getting their suits… A great day to go to space."

The kitsune nodded. "Yeah… Even if there were all those unexplained accidents last night. The launch almost got delayed because of them."

Sonic shrugged. "I'm sure it's fine. Aeromi was kind enough to go through everything on the security cameras, and she didn't see anything unusual. I mean, apart from the air duct falling on those guards back on the big ship."

Silver approached the two, also looking at the ship. "Is it kind of sad that I think this ship is way cooler than anything I've ever seen, and I'm from the future?"

The blue Hedgehog chuckled. "Maybe a little. But to be fair, isn't your future a burned out wasteland?"

"Hey! It was getting better when I left!" protested Silver.

Tails turned to the other Hedgehog. "Oh, Silver, I was able to finish the upgrade on your guns." He handed Silver his weapon, _Shume_. "These ought to be more effective on the moon."

Silver looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "Thanks, but what do they do now?" He pressed something on the left gun that wasn't there before, and a large energy blade appeared from it, nearly cutting his nose off. "Okay! Never mind!" he shouted in alarm.

Sonic and Tails laughed at his expense as the white Hedgehog allowed the blade to go back into the gun. "Ahem… At any rate, these ought to be better at killing those freaky bug Grimm than hitting them with boomerangs."

Tails nodded, smiling at his handiwork. "Let's see how the girls are doing. We're getting close to launch, and we haven't seen their suits yet."

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Sonic ran back to the academy, eager to see what Ruby and the other's suits looked like. Silver and Tails smiled as they followed him, also curious.

* * *

_Hallway outside the Locker Rooms_

Sonic, Silver, and Tails met up with Shadow and Omega, who were also waiting on Team RWBY. Standing beside them were a man and a woman they didn't know, likely the mercenaries that General Ironwood mentioned.

The man was tall and fit with somewhat spiky black hair and a braid going down the left side of his face that went down to his neck. He had a scar across his face that went from his left eyebrow to his right cheek, and his eyes were very interesting- the left was black while the right was red. He introduced himself as Koki Fenris. The woman had blonde hair with green eyes, and she had a robotic right arm. "I'm Amara Shirayuki, but you can just call me Amara," she said cheerfully. Both wore black armour over equally black bodysuits.

"So you're the 'mercenaries' that are coming with us?" asked Tails.

"We prefer the term 'Freelancers', but that's right," Koki confirmed. "We're part of the _Company_ and crew members of the _Normandy._ Both of us have had experience in deepwater exploration, and Amara's a former astronaut."

"Deepwater exploration? Why does that matter?" asked Silver.

"Going deep underwater has similar challenges to going into space, and is actually more difficult." informed Tails.

"Exactly," said Amara. "And something even more important is that we know how to drive the Paladins."

Shadow chuckled darkly. "I hope you can keep up with us."

The locker room door opened and Team RWBY walked out. Their suits were pretty similar to Koki and Amara's, except that the colours of the armour and bodysuits corresponded to each girl's' signature colour (Ruby=red; Weiss=white; Blake=black; Yang=yellow). Yang stretched a bit in her suit. "Well… how do we look?"

Sonic grinned. "You girls look ready to go to the moon and kill some Grimm."

"I'm just happy I can still wear my hood while wearing this!" exclaimed Ruby, turning around so everyone saw that she still had her red hood over her suit and armour.

"I'm just surprised that our hair can fit in our helmets without us having to cut it." commented Weiss.

Omega started walking to the exit. "WE SHOULD PROBABLY SAY OUR FAREWELLS TO OUR COMRADES BEFORE WE GO."

Silver blushed deeply. "Um, I think I'm okay. Blaze and I said goodbye a couple of hours ago, and it was pretty intense…"

Yang elbowed the Hedgehog and winked. "Silver, you sly 'hog!"

Before Silver could protest that they only made out, a shrill voice cried out from down the hall. "SOOOOOOONNIIIIIICCC!"

All heads turned to the door as Amy Rose knocked Omega out of the way and glomped the unfortunate blue Hedgehog. "You'd better come back, do you hear me?! I can't stand the thought of you leaving my side for too long!"

"Ack… Amy…" choked Sonic, more from lack of air than from emotions. "We'll be fine… It's just… a few… days… at most… need-air…"

Amy released Sonic, and the blue Hedgehog took a few deep breaths. "Ow… Don't worry, Amy. We'll be back soon." He donned his trademark grin. "And we'll kick Eggman's butt!"

The doors opened again as Team JNPR and the rest of the Mobian crew walked in. Koki and Amara left for the _Ogygia_ to give the others some privacy.

Sonic turned to face Team JNPR. "Guys, we'll need your help to hold the fort down while we're gone."

"Why? Do you think Eggman or the White Fang may attack?" asked Jaune.

"MY GUT SAYS NO, BUT MY GUT'S MADE OF AN ADVANCED POLYMER, AND IT DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE HECK IT'S TALKING ABOUT. STUPID GUT…" trailed Omega irritably.

Rouge giggled. "Let's just say that Egghead shouldn't stay idle for long. He may have fewer resources since we trashed his base, but he still has the energy of _Dralux_. Speaking of which…" She took out a large case. "Sonic, Mogar wanted you to have his sword."

Sonic opened the case and pulled out the diamond sword, now enclosed in a decorative sheath. "Sweet! Don't worry, King Mogar, I'll make sure that nothing happens to this sword."

Mogar's voice emanated from the sword. **_"Thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog. I know I can trust you."_**

As he strapped the sword to his back, Professor Ozpin walked up. "It's time."

* * *

Ogygia  
 _10 minutes til launch_

"Everyone strapped in?"

All who were on the ship confirmed that they were strapped in. Tails was at the pilot's seat with Koki and Amara on either side of him. Team RWBY sat at different computer consoles on the sides of the cockpit area with the hedgehogs. Meanwhile, Omega was in the cargo bay keeping an eye on the Spider Droids and Paladins.

Tails turned his head back to the control panel. "Alright, begin equipment checks. Fuel?"

" _Fuel tanks are topped off with liquid Dust, as are the auxiliary tanks,_ " Aeromi responded. " _A.I. core is 100% functional. Thank goodness for that._ "

"Oxygen levels optimal," said Amara. She clicked on a few buttons. "All recyclers are running smoothly."

"My god, I'm so excited!" squealed Ruby as she fidgeted slightly in her seat. "We'll be the first team from Beacon on the moon!"

"Remember our mission, Ruby," said Weiss. "We're not there for sightseeing, just for the _Chaos Emerald_."

"Oh, lighten up, would ya, Ice Queen?" Sonic looked in her direction and grinned. "Don't tell me you're not as excited, I can see it in your eyes."

Weiss blushed a deep red. "N-no, I'm not!"

"Power levels in the green. Beginning launch sequence." Tails flipped a switch, and a rumble was felt through the ship as the engines started powering on.

Silver gulped nervously, gripping his seat tightly. "Um, this is safe, right?"

"Well, we didn't explode on the launch pad when the engines turned on, so I think we're good." replied Yang.

"Wait, what?!"

"Relax, Silver," said Blake. "There aren't many more things that can go wrong right now."

A voice crackled on the radio before anyone could lecture her on Murphy's Law. _"_ Ogygia _, this is_ Beacon Control _. You are clear for launch."_

"Roger that. Beginning final countdown." Tails flipped another switch, and the rumbling got a little more intense. "Anybody have anything they want to say before we go?"

"Yeah." Shadow looked at him from his seat. "I'm not looking forward to eating that stuff in the storage that you call food."

Aeromi rolled her eyes. " _You can get a steak when we get back._ " A clock appeared next to her holographic avatar, counting down to liftoff. " _Here we go. 10… 9… 8…_ "

"In case we don't make it back, I want Zwei to have everything!" shouted Ruby, gripping her seat.

" _7… 6… 5…_ "

Amara flipped a switch, starting an upbeat song that went well with the launch.

" _4… Ignition… 3…_ "

The ship shook even more as huge plumes of fire appeared from the booster engines. The ship, winning the battle against gravity, slowly rose from the launch pad.

" _2… 1… We have liftoff!_ "

The _Ogygia_ slowly lifted off, gradually becoming faster. On the ground, Team JNPR and the other Mobians watched in awe as the ship sped through the atmosphere, getting higher and higher.

Amara typed in a few commands on her console. "Approaching second stage. Separating boosters, igniting main engines."

A large vibration was felt as the huge booster engines separated from the ship, falling back to Remnant. The main engines of the _Ogygia_ kicked in, jerking everyone inside a little. The ship's flight become much smoother after a few minutes as it left the atmosphere.

Aeromi cleared her throat, then spoke with the P.A. system using her best airline stewardess impression. " _Ladies and gentlemen of all species and origins, this is your A.I. speaking. We are now at cruising altitude on course for the moon. We should arrive in three to four hours._ "

Tails shifted the ship so "down" became "up". "Opening window shields."

Outside, large sheets of metal shifted, and Team RWBY looked up as the protective plating that was covering the windows opened up. The girls were awestruck by the view of the planet seen by few humans.

Aeromi smiled when she saw their reactions. " _Welcome to Outer Space._ "

* * *

On the ground, Ozpin and Ironwood stood side by side, gazing at the large smoke trail left by the _Ogygia_ 's engines. "Ozpin… I'm not a big believer of religion or God, but that isn't stopping me from praying that I haven't sent those young souls to their deaths."

The Headmaster shifted his eyes to look at Ironwood. "General… No, James. I have complete faith in them. The Mobians are no strangers to dangerous situations. I'm certain we'll be welcoming them back soon. Then you can put your own ghosts to rest." Ozpin returned his eyes to the smoke trail. "Good luck to all of you."

Further away at a different place, Cinder watched the launch with a slight smirk on her face. "Soon, there will be no obstacles in our path..."


	56. RWBY in Space!

Ogygia  
 _Noon (Remnant time)_

Ruby and the other girls stared out at their home planet from the windows on the ship. "Wooooooww…." gasped Ruby in awe.

Sonic looked upon Remnant from another window. "You know, I've been in space before this, but looking down on a planet from a spaceship, whether it's your first or the hundredth, there's nothing like it." He smiled at the girls. "You'll remember this for a long time, ladies."

"I don't doubt it." agreed Yang as she took some pictures with her scroll.

Aeromi projected her avatar near them. " _You think that's cool, go to the cargo bay. I turned off the artificial gravity in there._ "

The group nodded and went to the cargo bay where Silver and Blake were floating around and having a mock battle. Shadow was checking the weapon systems on the Spider Droids with Omega, both tethered to the ground to prevent them from floating away. Weiss, meanwhile, was working on one of the Paladins.

"Woohoo!" shouted Yang as she jumped into the cargo bay, twisting her body as she flew through the area. She turned her body around and landed on the ceiling feet-first. "Nailed it!"

Ruby followed close behind, her cape flapping on her back. "Whee! Come on, Weiss, you've gotta try this out!"

"Um, no thank you," said Weiss. "I had enough of that during the training." Suddenly, she was surrounded in an aqua-green aura. "AH! What is going on?!"

The culprit, being Silver, chuckled a bit. "Sorry, Ice Queen, but I feel like you needed to defrost a bit." The Hedgehog used his Pyschokinesis to make Weiss hover above the Paladins.

The sound of a chime echoed through the cargo bay. _"Koki here. We're coming close to the moon. There are some micrometeorites around here, but the shields should hold. We'll be there in about two hours."_

"Got it!" answered Sonic. The blue Hedgehog resumed the mock battle with everyone else. All involved followed the unspoken rule to not use their semblances or other special powers for fear of making a hole in the ship.

Amara walked in the cargo bay and smiled at the group. "How's it going?"

"I'm not having fun!" shouted Weiss, though it was pretty obvious that she was trying her hardest to keep herself from smiling.

Shadow looked up from the Spider Droid. "Hello, Amara. What's going on?"

"Oh, I figured I'd stop in and chat for a bit. I get the feeling that SOME people-" she glanced upward at a floating Weiss, "-don't really trust Koki and I."

Shadow shrugged and closed the panel on the Spider Droid. "It really doesn't make a difference to me. I do have to ask, though… how did you lose that?" He pointed at Amara's robot arm.

She held it up. "Oh, my arm? I lost it a few years back before I joined with Shepard and the _Company_."

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR APPENDAGE?" asked Omega.

Amara sighed. "I was in the Atlas Military. Koki and I were called in to investigate a disturbance at a Dust processing facility. When we got there, everything was quiet. But it wasn't quiet for long. A few White Fang extremists with military-grade weapons shot at us, and suddenly, I was on the ground, and I was looking at my right arm about fifteen feet away from me."

She shivered at the memory. "Koki and I were able to complete the mission and take out the White Fang extremists, but I was left with just a left arm and no hope of getting my original right arm back."

"IF THAT WAS THE CASE, HOW DID YOU ACQUIRE THIS ONE?" asked Omega.

"The original leader of the White Fang personally felt responsible for the actions of those that attacked the processing plant- without his knowledge, I might add- and he wired me enough money to get a robot prosthetic. However, right after that, a new leader took over, and my superiors suddenly didn't trust the gift I received. Fortunately, Captain Shepard thought I could help with his organisation, and Koki and I joined." She smiled softly. "It's been a dream come true since then. We have access to all sorts of toys from the military, and the modifications I've made to my arm using them has helped me save a lot of people."

Blake, hearing the conversation, floated over to them. "So you don't feel any hate to the White Fang or the Faunus?" she asked, hope in her voice.

Amara shook her head. "Not at all. The Faunus that took my arm were terrorists, and were wanted for major crimes anyways. Those guys were worse than the White Fang movement of today, and that's saying something."

The woman opened up a panel on one of the Paladins. "You guys go and play around some more. You might never do anything like this again, so do it while you can." She got to work on the suit, and the others resumed floating around.

* * *

_Beacon Academy, Ozpin's office  
_ _1:35 p.m._

"So Eggman's base is in the Forest of Forever Fall?"

Ozpin nodded. "Yes. The Mobians first discovered it when a friend of theirs from the Mystral region threw a banana peel after a mission to retrieve a _Chaos Emerald_ from the area. They confirmed its location when-"

"Whoa, wait a minute," General Ironwood interrupted, looking up from the map of the forest that was pulled up on Ozpin's desk. "A 'banana peel' help discover Eggman's facility?"

"There was a monkey Faunus on the mission. When he threw the peel out, it apparently hit his camouflaged base. I was just as surprised to hear this, believe me." said Ozpin, chuckling lightly. Glynda Goodwitch faithfully stood beside the headmaster, as was her custom.

Ironwood was at a loss for words. "Um… I don't know how to respond to that…"

"Nor do you need to. At any rate, the location was confirmed when the Mobians and some of the students met with Eggman so they could deal with an out of control doppleganger of Sonic, designated as 'Metal Sonic'. Their A.I. infiltrated his network, and she was able to find the exact coordinates of the base. That's also when they discovered that a _Chaos Emerald_ was on the moon."

"I see…" Ironwood gazed at the map again.

"General… may I inquire as to what you will do with this information?" Ozpin gazed at him intensely.

Ironwood met his gaze. "I plan to assist the Mobians in eliminating Eggman. If not him, than his base at the very least."

"He has known ties to the White Fang, James. You don't know what you'll be getting into. You'll be risking many lives for something very foolish."

Ironwood chuckled humorlessly. "Fortunately, I plan on only using the latest _Atlesian Knights_ fitted with Tails' antivirus program. The only things that will be risked are time and robot parts."

"You seem to have thought this through at great length."

"I've thinking through scenarios since I first heard of the Mobians, and by extension, Eggman. This approach won't put any innocent lives in danger, just one- Eggman's."

Ozpin nodded. "I see… Very well. Do what you wish. However, I don't want my students to get involved."

Ironwood's shoulders lifted slightly, as if a huge weight had been lifted from them. "You have my thanks, Ozpin. I promise I won't do anything to put the academy in danger."

Ozpin smiled. "James, we've been in peril from Eggman ever since the Mobians arrived on our doorstep, and while more danger is undesirable, I fear that this academy's had a target on its head even before they arrived."

"And yet, the academy still stands." Glynda said, speaking up for the first time during the meeting.

"May it continue to stand." Ironwood stood up. "May I talk with one of the Mobians who stayed behind? Preferably one who knows the typical layout of Eggman's bases?"

"Of course. I'll send Rouge the Bat to you. She's a government agent back on their home planet, and she's the best person to assist you, even among the ones that left for the moon."

The General bowed and left the room, leaving Ozpin and Glynda by themselves.

"Sir… Is it really wise to allow such a huge attack on an enemy with the energy of the largest Grimm in recorded history?" the woman asked.

Ozpin sighed. "Probably not. But Eggman has surely detected the launch of the _Ogygia_ , and he may be planning an attack of his own." He looked up into the sky. "All we can really do now is hope that his strike successfully incapacitates Eggman until they return."

Glynda echoed the headmaster's sigh. "And waiting is the hardest part."

Ozpin's desk emitted a chime, indicating a call. He checked the caller I.D. "Hm... The _Schnee Dust Company_? Why would _she_ call at a time like this?" He answered the call, and the face of a beautiful woman with white hair appeared on the screen.

_"Professor Ozpin... Can you tell me where on Remnant my sister is?"_


	57. Second Moon Landing

Ogygia  
 _2:30 p.m. Vale Time_

"Well… the moon looks pretty bleak from up here." commented Sonic.

The _Ogygia_ skimmed over the surface of the moon, homing in on the energy signature emitted by the _Chaos Emerald_. Koki, piloting the ship with Aeromi's assistance, looked back at the Hedgehog with his mismatched eyes. "What did you expect? Those _Arachnids_ aren't going to be on the surface all the time."

Amara glanced at him. "' _Arachnids_ '?"

"Why not? They gotta have an official name. The scientists back home will never go with the name ' _Bugs_ '. They have to make the name as complicated as possible to make them sound smarter."

"Who, the Grimm or the scientists?" quipped Tails.

"Maybe both." answered Koki, chuckling at the small joke.

Ruby cleared her throat. "I hate to interrupt, but why aren't you guys excited that we're ON THE MOON?!"

"Do we need to remind you about the giant Grimm bugs?" asked Blake.

" _Arachnids_!" corrected Koki.

"But we're, like, among the first few people to be here!" Ruby persisted, ignoring him. "Don't you guys feel anything from that?"

Weiss shook her head. "Sorry, but the sensations haven't kicked in yet. Maybe when we're on the ground, I'll feel something."

"I, for one, feel excited!" shouted Yang. The blonde thrill-seeker was in heaven right now. She always wanted to have a lot of crazy adventures, and this one would certainly qualify.

Shadow glanced out a window, then turned to the crew. "Let's land here." He pulled up a map of the moon and tapped a location, marking the map for the pilots.

Aeromi checked the surroundings. " _No obstructions within 100 meters, level ground, and we're within walking distance to the Emerald. It's as perfect as it's going to get._ "

Tails nodded and flipped a few switches, and the _Ogygia_ slowed down as the power to the engines tapered off. The front thrusters fired off, slowing them even more. The landing gear was lowered as the ship slowly descended, landing softly on the lunar surface. "Touchdown. Better contact the Headmaster and tell him that we've landed safely."

Koki nodded and turned on the communications. "This is _Ogygia_ , calling for _Beacon Academy Control_ , come in Control."

While Koki was contacting Beacon, Amara passed the Mobians a small collar. "Put these on your throat. You may be able to live in a vacuum, but I don't think we'll be able to hear you. These throat microphones should pick up what you're saying and allow us to hear what you're saying."

Shadow nodded as he attached his microphone. "Good call."

 _"We're receiving you,_ Ogygia _,"_ answered the voice of Ozpin. _"What's your mission status?"_

"We've successfully landed on the moon. We will begin the retrieval mission shortly." Koki gazed at the lunar landscape. "Anybody want souvenirs while we're here?"

"The only souvenir we should be focused on is the _Chaos Emerald_ ," Shadow said harshly. "All other concerns should be secondary."

Ozpin, hearing what Shadow said, coughed lightly. _"Though the delivery needs work, he does make a good point. That being said, the Ogygia can carry up to 400 pounds if you feel the need to leave the Spider Droids behind. Also, the General has a special request."_

"What is it?" asked Sonic, getting a little anxious from being in an enclosed ship for a long period of time.

Ozpin's tone was somber. _"He wants you to bring the badges of his former crew home."_

The crew of the _Ogygia_ stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds. "In that case, putting Ironwood's ghosts to rest should be our second priority, but no less important." said Amara.

"We'll make it happen, Professor." promised Ruby. The others agreed with the request.

_"Excellent, I know the General will be at ease. Good luck. Oh, before I forget, there's something I needed to talk to Miss Schnee about."_

"What is it, Professor?" asked Weiss, getting close to the radio so she could be heard better.

_"Your sister called earlier, asking where you were."_

The heiress's face turned pale, which in retrospect was pretty impressive. "Winter? What did she want?"

_"She just wanted to know where you were, and why you've never contacted her or your father."_

"I don't believe this…" Weiss shook her head aggravated. "Well, I can't really talk right now, obviously. Tell her that I'll contact her later."

 _"I'm afraid that isn't an option,_ dear sister~. _"_ a female voice full of authority replied from the radio.

Weiss paled even more, her face matching her suit. "Winter?! Professor, why'd you allow her to contact me?! This isn't a great time for this!"

_"I apologize, Miss Schnee. Your sister can, and was, very… persuasive."_

The other voice, now identified as Weiss's sister Winter, cleared her throat. _"Let's not go into the details. How about you tell me what you've been doing with those miscreants!?"_

"The who?" asked Ruby.

"If you're referring to MY FRIENDS," Weiss ground out irritably, "We've been helping to make Remnant a better place. That's my duty as a Huntress."

_"Oh, really? You mean galavanting off with… animals? It's bad enough that you're going to a school that accepts Faunus, but this is too much. Our father is not happy about this at all."_

"When is he ever?" retorted the younger Schnee. She turned to the others, her face now red from embarrassment. "Guys, I'm really sorry about this."

Sonic shrugged. "Meh, at least insults don't shoot at us. I will admit, I was expecting a reaction like this from someone a lot sooner."

 _"You'll be taking up the responsibility of the company, Weiss,"_ continued Winter, ignoring the hedgehog. _"You can't risk your life for these... subhumans!"_

Silver flinched and held his chest as if he was shot. "Ouch! I felt that one!"

The Schnee sisters continued this back and forth argument for about five minutes until Amara, getting bored from listening to the conversation, glanced at the radar. Her eyes widened. "Enemy contact, 11 o'clock!"

Winter stopped mid-rant. " _What was that? 'Enemy contact?!' Weiss, what are you doing?!"_

"My job. Sorry, Winter, this is more important! I'll see you when I get back, bye!" Weiss quickly turned the radio off.

"Chaos, I thought she would never shut up," groaned Shadow as he took out _Crimson Dusk_ and put a round in the firing chamber. The others readied their own weapons. "What have we got, Tails?"

"It's a group of 20 Arachnids. Probably a scouting party." The kitsune pulled up a camera feed and zoomed in on the approaching Grimm. "About 500 meters away and closing."

Sonic took out his swords, _Cobalt Shard_ on his right hand and King Mogar's diamond sword on his left. "Well, they were kind enough to send us a greeting. Let's not keep our hosts waiting."

The girls put on their helmets and walked to the airlock. "It's a shame that our first steps on the moon are into battle." said Blake.

Ruby loaded a round into _Crescent Rose._ "Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"The gravity here is one-sixth that of Remnant, so we'll be floating around quite a bit." cautioned Weiss.

"400 meters. Better get out there."

Team RWBY and the Hedgehogs took Tails' advice and made their way to the airlock. The inside door closed, and a red light in front of the outer door started blinking red. " _Equalising interior pressure with exterior atmosphere,_ " reported Aeromi. " _Like there even IS an atmosphere._ "

"That just means there's none of that pesky air to get in the way of my punches!" whooped Yang as she pumps _Ember Celica._

" _300 meters and closing. Pressure has been equalized. Opening outer hatch._ " The light on the door blinked green, and it opened up to an alien landscape. The light gray surface was littered with small craters made from meteorites, and it was a very surreal feeling for Ruby to look up and see her home planet.

Sonic nudged her. "Save the daydreaming for later, Ruby!" he shouted, his coming through clearly despite the vacuum. "Those Grimm are getting closer!"

" _150 meters. Should have a visual on them soon._ " reported Aeromi through the suit radios.

A screech drew their attention to a large crater, where the first of the _Arachnids_ appeared. It snapped its jaws and skittered towards them, followed by nineteen more of its kind.

Ruby shifted _Crescent Rose_ to sniper rifle form. "Time to see if these things can be killed!" She aimed at the leader of the swarm and fired. The bullet, unimpeded by air in the vacuum, sped to the Grimm at a faster velocity than usual. Not only did it kill the _Arachnid_ in a spectacular manner, it also killed four other Grimm _Arachnid's_ behind it.

"Whoa…" The young girl gazed at her weapon. "I only meant to kill one, not five!"

"That's great, but can you get the others?" asked Shadow testily.

She nodded and fired again, killing another five with one bullet. The remaining ten _Arachnids_ realized the obvious error of straight lines and scattered into two groups of five.

"Nice job, Ruby." Sonic grinned as he took out his swords. "Now it's my turn." He sped off towards one group, the reduced gravity barely slowing him down. The Hedgehog jumped up about 20 feet, then reversed the grip on one of his swords as he held one in front and the other behind. He then spun around quickly, turning into a deadly top. He slashed through the Grimm easily, landing behind them as their bodies fell to the ground and started dissolving. "Piece of cake!"

"Whatever. Quit showing off, Faker." Shadow aimed at the other group with _Crimson Dusk_ and fired, killing an _Arachnid_. The others fired their weapons, making short work of the Grimm.

"Well, that was interesting," said Yang. "I kinda wish that we had more of a role, though."

Weiss turned her faceplate to the blonde girl. "Unfortunately, I've got a feeling that all of us will have to fight soon. This was just a scouting party."

Movement caught Silver's eyes as he turned to the _Ogygia_. The central hatch opened up, and the two huge Spider Droids walked out of the cargo bay. "Um, how come those weren't brought out sooner?"

Amara's voice answered over the radio. _"Because the cargo bay took a long time to empty of air, and we needed to recapture as much of it as we could. The oxygen recycler can only do so much."_

The white Hedgehog shrugged. "Fair point."

"Alright, let's not waste any more time up here," said Blake. "We need to get that _Chaos Emerald._ "

Tails' voice became heard over the radio. _"I'll stay here and provide logistical support with Koki and Amara. If you guys run into trouble, they can be there with the Paladins quickly."_

"AFFIRMATIVE," droned Omega. "LET US MAKE HASTE. SENSOR READINGS INDICATE THAT OUR ARRIVAL HAS NOT GONE UNNOTICED."

What an understatement that would turn out to be.


	58. Plans and Burials

_Atlesian airship currently in Vale airspace  
_ _3:30 p.m._

"Remind me again… why'd they pair me up with _you_?"

Winter Schnee glanced from the window to Rouge. "You've been closer to my sister than the others that haven't gone to the moon, and since we haven't spoken to each other at length for a while, I would like to hear how she's doing from you. General Ironwood thought it best for us to get acquainted, anyways."

"Are you sure speaking with one of us, oh what was it, "miscreant animals" will be good for your image?"

Winter blushed in embarrassment. "Oh… you heard that?"

Rouge pointed to her ears. "I'm a Bat. We have more sensitive hearing than most others."

The elder Schnee sighed. "I apologize for that… our father was listening on my end, and he's never had any good encounters with Faunus. Or any animals, really."

"I just hope you didn't spill the beans about your sister being on the moon. That mission is considered highly classified, as is this one." The Mobian Bat gazed at the impressive fleet surrounding the flagship they were on. "Eggman's systems may have been damaged by our little visit, but he'll see this ship coming many miles away, let alone the rest of this fleet. Heck, he's probably looking at us right now."

Winter glanced at the Bat. "Do you doubt the strength of the Atlas Military?"

"Only some of it," Rouge replied while smirking. "For example, I've looked through your files."

The woman glared at Rouge, her hand tightening around the sword at her side. "And what insights did you glean from this illegal activity?"

"Well, you've deflected many calls from your father when he wanted to know about Weiss's whereabouts, so that tells me that you care about your sister enough to let her choose a path of her own. Your _Semblance_ is the same as the Ice Queen's, but with the added ability of _'Summoning'_ , whatever that means. You also don't sing as well as her, but that's irrelevant. All in all, you're pretty much just a soldier for the Atlesian Military who's less brainwashed than the rest."

Winter thrust a hand out in front of her, a large Glyph appearing above her hand. A white _Beowolf_ materialised in front of her. "Care to repeat that, _thief_?" Winter growled.

Rouge pulled her pistols out reflexively at the Grimm. "Oh, so that's what _Summoning_ is." She glanced at Winter. "Okay, you also have a bit of a temper."

"Indeed." Both women turned their heads to the door as General Ironwood stepped into the room. "Winter, Rouge, enough. You're both going to play an important part in ridding this world of Eggman, and I need your energy directed towards that end, not towards killing each other."

The _Beowolf_ faded away as Winter stopped feeding energy to it, the woman saluting. "Yes, sir."

Ironwood nodded. "Better. Now, Rouge, what can you tell us about Eggman? I know some from Ozpin, but I'd like to hear more from someone who's actually fought him."

Rouge nodded and put _Lovacs_ away. "Alright. Do you have a hologram projector?"

Ironwood pointed to his desk. Rouge walked to it and inserted her scroll into the indicated slot. A hologram of Eggman's base in the Forest of Forever Fall shimmered into view. "This is Eggman's base. It was discovered on accident by Sun Wukong of Team SSSN. More recently, some of us fought against a rogue robot of his, and in the process, trashed the _Dark Badnik_ assembly line located there. However, Eggman has been known to be very creative with limited resources, and it's entirely possible that he may set up operations elsewhere if he hasn't already."

Winter frowned. "Is there no information about a secondary base?"

"Our Artificial Intelligence program, Aeromi, did a great job in hacking into his computer network while in the base. Those files have been copied, but they're in lockdown mode, and it's taking her awhile for her to break through." Rouge shrugged. "It's frustrating, but she's confident she'll get it done when the moon team gets back."

"In the meantime, we can, at least, deprive Eggman of this base." Ironwood pointed at the center of the base. "Our first priority should be to disable that large power source."

Rouge sat on the table. "That might be a bit tricky. His base was modelled after _Space Colony ARK,_ and if I remember correctly, that's the place to activate the huge laser cannon."

Winter glanced at her. "That could be… problematic."

The Bat nodded. "Yep. Of course, all this planning will mean nothing if Egghead knows you're here."

Ironwood sighed in frustration. "Okay… then what would you suggest, Rouge?"

Rouge pulled out a pistol and ran a finger along the jewels embedded in the gun. "Simply put, we just disable the long range security systems, allowing this eyesore of a fleet to attack."

She shifted her eyes to Winter. "And Ice Queen Senior over here just gave me an idea on how we can get inside."

* * *

_The moon_

Team RWBY and the Mobian Hedgehogs walked carefully through the lunar landscape, knowing that they could be attacked by _Arachnids_ at any time. Following them were the two Spider Droids, their weapon systems constantly scanning for any unfriendly movement. They were about halfway to the location of the _Chaos Emerald_ when Sonic said, "Hold up, guys, I think I see something up ahead."

Ruby turned her helmet to Sonic. "What's up?"

The blue Hedgehog pointed to what looked like a moon buggy. "I'm pretty sure that's where one of the original astronauts are."

The group walked carefully to the buggy- or rather, the remains of it. The Grimm had trashed the lunar vehicle pretty heavily, and all that was left was a pitiful pile of spare parts. Shadow used the barrel of _Crimson Dusk_ to root through the pile until he found a space suit that was identical to the ones that General Ironwood's crew was wearing from the recording of the previous moon mission. "Silver, help me out here."

"What are you doing?" asked Silver as he walked over to the black Hedgehog.

Shadow pointed to the suit. "That's David's. I think we should give him a proper burial. Plus, Ironwood asked us to get his comrade's badges."

Blake averted her eyes as Shadow and Silver silently pulled the suit out of the pile. There wasn't a body in the suit, but it was covered in crystallised blood that flaked off with every movement. "I've seen the destruction that the Grimm can cause… but this is too much."

Yang laid a hand on her shoulder. "The feeling's mutual." She sighed, her faceplate fogging up slightly.

Shadow pulled out a small knife and cut the ID patch off of the suit. He then glanced at Silver, who nodded and held out a glowing hand. A patch of ground nearby lifted up, and Shadow folded the suit carefully before placing it in the hole.

Ruby carefully made a small cross using the parts from the buggy and placed it on the grave. "Does anyone want to say anything?" she asked somberly.

Sonic nodded and placed his hands together. "David… We've never met, but your old pal Ironwood sent us. He's doing great, so you don't have to worry about your sacrifice not meaning anything."

Shadow walked forward and whispered a short prayer, then said, "You can rest easy now. Go and find your god." He bowed his head, then turned to the rest of the group, who were looking at him in surprise. "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Shadow…" Weiss mumbled, looking away. "We were just a bit surprised by this side of you."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever. Just because I was artificially created doesn't mean I can't pray? Have you ever heard of the phrase, _'There's no atheist in a foxhole'_? And I've been in quite a few foxholes."

Weiss nodded in understanding, and Shadow pointed to a large mountain range to their left. "Well, since we're retracing the first expeditions footsteps, then my guess is that Michael and Cassie are in there," he said.

"THAT'S ALSO WHERE THE CHAOS EMERALD SIGNAL IS LOCATED." noted Omega.

Yang grinned and slammed her fists together. "Then that means we can kill two _Nevermores_ with one stone."

Sonic's radio started beeping, and he picked it up. "What's up, Tails?"

_"Guys, I'm reading a lot of vibrations in the mountains to your west. I think the swarm knows we're here, and they're not happy at all."_

_"If you need help, Amara and I can be there in about five minutes, but it'll be difficult to get the Paladins underground."_ said Koki.

Sonic nodded. "Roger that. We just found one of the astronauts and retrieved his patch. We also gave him a proper burial."

 _"Good, Ironwood should be happy about that. Keep us posted._ Ogygia _out."_

The blue Hedgehog gazed at the lunar mountain range. "Well, if anyone has to use the bathroom, do it now." He pulled his swords out, the blades glinting from the reflections of the planet above them.

"We're going in."


	59. Bring the Fight to the Enemy

_The Moon  
_ _3:45 p.m. (Vale Time)_

"Okay, does anyone have any problems with caves?"

The gathered beings considered Shadow's question. They were currently standing in front of the entrance to a cave that led to the other two astronauts- and the _Chaos Emerald_. Sonic held up a hand. "Well, I like my freedom of movement-"

The Ultimate Life Form rolled his eyes. "Not you, Faker. I meant the girls." He gestured to the cave entrance. "It's going to get pretty messy in there, and there won't be a lot of room to maneuver."

"If that's the case, let's get in a formation," suggested Weiss. "Sonic and Shadow are in front, followed by Ruby, Yang, Blake, and myself. Silver and Omega can be our rear guard."

"Hey, I'm the leader here!" whined Ruby.

The heiress raised an eyebrow under her helmet. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Oh! Um, well…" stammered Ruby, taken aback. She chuckled nervously before replying, "After much consideration, I have decided that Weiss's idea is a good one, and we should implement it right away!"

"Nice save," murmured Blake. "But I think I should be up front, closer to Sonic and Shadow."

"AGREED," droned Omega. "FAUNUS FELINE'S EYESIGHT IS SUPERIOR IN DIM PLACES."

Sonic smiled. "Well said. Alright, Blake, come on up."

The Faunus nodded and got in the front of the group with Sonic and Shadow. The blue Hedgehog glanced at the huge Spider Droids. "I don't think these guys will fit in the caves. We'll have to leave them behind."

Omega turned to the robots and spoke in a language that only robots could understand, and the Spider Droids took up positions near the entrance. They then drilled their lower halves into the ground, making the transition from heavily armed robot to heavily armed turret. "THE DROIDS ARE NOW IN STATIONARY POSITION, AND WILL TARGET ANYTHING WITH A GRIMM LIFE SIGNATURE."

Sonic put a hand to his ear. " _Ogygia_ , this is Blue One. Tails, we are now entering the caves, over."

 _"Roger that. We'll monitor your progress as best as we can, but don't be surprised if we can't talk to each other as you guys go deeper,"_ warned Tails. _"The emergency beacon will hopefully cut through any interference, but don't rely on it."_

"So what are we supposed to do if we need assistance, yet can't get through to you?" asked Silver.

 _"I guess you'll have to use your imagination."_ the Fox answered sheepishly.

"That'll have to do for now." growled Shadow, eager to get in the caves.

The blue Hedgehog turned off the radio. "Well, let's get going, then. That _Chaos Emerald_ won't find itself." Sonic strolled into the cave, everyone else following behind him after the girls turned on their suit flashlights. They were about forty feet from the entrance when they came across another remnant of the previous crew. This one was smaller than the first suit they found and was shaped as if it was worn by a woman. The badge on the suit was labeled "Cassie", confirming the hypothesis.

Blake gingerly picked up the suit, empty like the previous one. "Even the Grimm on Remnant don't tear apart humans so… completely." Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were in complete agreement. Even watching the tape of the first mission couldn't prepare them for this.

The Faunus ripped the badge off of the suit. "Well, there's one left we need to find." She put the badge in a storage compartment on her armour. They would have liked to give Cassie a final farewell, but the tunnels were dangerous enough.

The group resumed their journey, stepping as carefully and quietly as they could. "Just because there's no sound in space doesn't mean the _Arachnids_ can't hear us." said Shadow when Ruby asked about why they were walking that way. "Somehow, we can hear them clearly. It's bound to work the other way around for them."

They passed some old lighting equipment abandoned from the previous mission, all of it as dead as the lunar surface. "Should we try and salvage any of this?" asked Silver.

"Even if we weren't in a very dangerous area filled with Grimm, I wouldn't attempt it," said Weiss. "These are very outdated and inefficient compared to what we have today. At best, some eccentric collector would probably want these, but I doubt it." She drew _Myrtenaster_ and poked one of the lights with the tip of the sword. "Even the _Dust_ would be worthless by now."

All of a sudden, the lights turned on, and they were just as bright as the day the were made. Silver glanced at the shocked heiress. "Uh… You were saying?"

Any remark Weiss would have made was interrupted by a loud screech. Everyone shone their lights at the source and saw two _Arachnids_ poised to attack.

"I got this!" shouted Yang as she leaped towards the Grimm. She drew her fist back and punched one of the _Arachnids_ into the other, knocking them both into the cave wall. "Piece of cake!"

"Hey, that's my line!" whined Sonic.

The second Grimm struggled for a bit under the body of the first one. Shadow calmly walked up to it, taking out _Crimson Dusk_ in its sword form.

"Shadow, what are you doing?" asked Ruby, worried for his safety.

"Call this an experiment." He stabbed it in the eyes right behind the jaws, causing the Grimm to spasm a few times before its legs hung loosely at its sides and started fading away.

"COMRADE SHADOW HAS LOCATED LUNAR GRIMM WEAK POINT," droned Omega. He pointed at where the black Hedgehog stabbed the Arachnid. "FOR FUTURE REFERENCE, AIM FOR THE NERVE CLUSTER."

Sonic grinned. "So aim for the face? Since their faces are white, that makes it even easier to aim at."

Another loud shriek echoed through the tunnel, and Ruby loaded _Crescent Rose_ with an ammo magazine. "Sounds like we're about to get a lot of practice."

Many Grimm _Arachnids_ rushed out, and soon the only sound heard was the screeching of Grimm.

* * *

_Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _4:00 p.m._

Outside of Eggman's "secret" base, a squad of _Dark Pawns_ wandered out in search of the Creatures of Grimm. This job would normally be done by flying units, but a nasty computer virus had apparently corrupted their programming, so most were grounded. The rest were still trying to fix the damage left by Sonic when he and the others from Beacon destroyed "Grimm" Metal Sonic. As such, the only drones available to replenish the number of Grimm were ground units.

The black robots searched tirelessly but were so far unsuccessful. Normally, the Grimm would come to the base's location in large packs, attracted to Eggman's evil and twisted mind. Lately, however, not a single Grimm had wandered to the base, giving the doctor raging fits of frustration. This made acquiring new Grimm even more frustrating, as negative emotions supposedly attracted Grimm like sharks to a wounded fish.

The lead pawn held up a portable radar, hoping to find something to satisfy the doctor, but expecting their dry streak to continue. This time, however, a blip appeared, indicating the presence of a Creature of Grimm. The leader gestured the other Pawns to follow it, and they set off west for a bit.

As the _Dark Pawn_ shifted a red-leafed bush, a howl and a flash of white struck at it. The Pawn suddenly found itself on the ground getting attacked by a _Beowolf_ , but this was different than the others. This one had whitish-blue fur instead of the usual black. However, the ferocity was the same, as evidenced by the way the Grimm was slashing into the Pawn.

The other Pawns held up their rifles and fired non-lethal rounds into the strange Grimm, causing it to fall unconscious onto the body of the lead Pawn. They wrapped it with a strong cord and picked it up, carrying it back to the base.

Orbot, hearing what the Pawns had just acquired, quickly rolled to Eggman. "Doctor, the latest Pawns have just retrieved a very interesting specimen!"

The doctor leaned up from his desk, rubbing his eyes. "Finally, I was afraid that I might have gotten all the Grimm in this area." He checked the datapad that Orbot gave him and pulled up the preliminary reports on the strange Grimm. An evil grin slowly blossomed on his face. "Well… a white _Beowolf_? Fascinating… and the reports show that it's very different compared to other Grimm."

He put an image of the Grimm on a hologram projector, and Cubot glanced over. "Now that's a purty interestin' creature! Ah reckon' it's a new type!" he drawled, still with a cowboy accent.

Eggman looked at the yellow robot. "Yes, it probably is." He slammed his fists on the desk, the _Beowolf_ forgotten at the moment. "Why isn't that voice chip of yours fixed yet?!"

"Beggin' your pardon, boss-man," apologised Cubot, "but Ah reckon you said that you preferred this voice over mah normal one."

"He's not wrong." Orbot chimed in.

Eggman sighed. "Just shut up, both of you."

At this point, the Pawns carrying the _Beowolf_ had reached the entrance to the base. Observing them far enough from Eggman's life sensors, Rouge the Bat watched the scene with a pair of binoculars. "They're in with their prize." she said to her companion.

Winter Schnee wiped a hand across her brow. "How long until we detonate? I can't exactly do this forever." she ground out. It was obvious to anyone watching that she was getting tired of keeping the illusion of the white _Beowolf_ up.

"Just give it a little more time…" Rouge waited a few more seconds. "I think it should be in deep enough now." The Bat took out her scroll, which had a large red circle flashing on it. "General, recommend you start the attack in three… two… one…"

She hit the circle, causing two things to happen. One, it gave a signal to hidden Atlesian Knights and Paladins to fire their heavy weapons into the base.

Second, it caused a huge blast from the other side of the base, right where the Pawns were carrying in the white _Beowolf_ , which was just a creation of Winter's summoning. The blast came from an explosive charge from inside the fake Grimm. If the creature was scanned properly, they would have known that there was a bomb inside. However, thanks to several contributing factors (Aeromi leaving a virus causing the scanner to malfunction in a certain way, Atlesian troops stealthily killing off all the Grimm in the surrounding areas, and Eggman's increasing desperation to replenish his ranks), the bait was reeled in successfully.

It was time to take the fight to Eggman.


	60. Arachnid's Hive

_The Moon_

It is impossible to hear anything in a vacuum. Science tells us that if there's no air, no sound can be heard. That's why a certain famous movie's tagline is _"In space, no one can hear you scream"._

In the caves of Remnant's shattered moon, however, that fact was turning out more and more false by the second. For Sonic, Ruby, and the rest could hear the screeches of the _Arachnid_ horde very clearly as if they were still on a planet with air.

They could also see them quite clearly. While the cave was dark and only lit up by Team RWBY's helmets, the glowing eyes of the Grimm made it easy to spot them. It also made a terrifying image to behold. The bug Grimm screeched loudly as a huge swarm tried to prevent the mixed group of humans and Mobians from invading further into the caves.

"They just keep on coming!" shouted Silver as one _Arachnid_ jumped at him. He used _Shume's_ new energy-sword mode to stab it behind its huge pincers, then fired. The superheated plasma threw the bug back and it slowly started to disappear.

" _CHAOS EMERALD_ SIGNATURE DETECTED WITHIN THIS VICINITY. FIRE, FIRE!" blared Omega as two rockets blasted apart a group trying to rush them.

Sonic looked further down the cave. "I'll see if I can find it. Shadow, give me an opening!"

The black Hedgehog extracted _Crimson Dusk_ from an _Arachnid_ and held up his _Chaos Emerald_. "Chaos… _Control_!" Time slowed down around them, leaving the Grimm vulnerable to a breach in their lines.

"Ruby, cover me!" The blue Hedgehog ran past the Grimm, _Cobalt Shard_ and King Mogar's sword killing all the Grimm in his path. Ruby Rose twisted her body around and activated her _Semblance_ , her cape swirling around her as she sped in Sonic's wake and leaving rose petals in hers.

The rest of the group tried to kill as many Grimm as they could before the _Chaos Control_ wore off. "If we live through this, I think I'm gonna have nightmares about this for a long time!" shouted Silver.

"You and me, both!" responded Blake. "And we still need to find Cassie's badge!" An _Arachnid_ lunged at her, but she deflected the blows with _Gambol Shroud_ and fired a bullet into the nerve cluster, killing it.

"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…" counted Shadow as he killed a Grimm for each number. "That all depends on how exposed the _Chaos Emerald_ is."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

Omega launched a missile into the caves, killing more _Arachnids_. "AN IDEAL SITUATION IS IF THE EMERALD IS OUT IN THE OPEN. HOWEVER, IT'S POSSIBLE THAT IT COULD BE BURIED."

A screech behind them alerted them to the presence of more Grimm. "Well, considering how this day is going, it's probably very likely that it's buried!" groaned Weiss.

"We just need to hold out a bit longer!" said Silver. "I know Sonic and Ruby can do this!"

Shadow reloaded _Crimson Dusk_ and took cover behind a boulder. "Then let's settle in… this could take a while."

Ruby and Sonic quickly ran through the caves, using their speed to avoid the _Arachnids_. "Hey, Sonic? We forgot to bring a _Chaos Emerald_ detector with us! How are we supposed to find it?"

Sonic flashed her a trademark grin. "We already have one!" He stabbed a Grimm, then pulled out the blue _Chaos Emerald_ from behind his quills. "These things react when they get near each other." He pulled his sword out from the Grimm, the creature now slowly disintegrating.

The young girl smiled. "That's so cool!"

"I know, right?" the blue Hedgehog agreed. "Now let's get back to it."

Ruby nodded and fired _Crescent Rose_ into more _Arachnids_. "By the way… what colour is the last one?" she asked as they moved deeper into the caves. They dashed into a large room with a high ceiling. In the open space in the middle of the room, a faint purple glow lit up. "Never mind."

The light from the _Chaos Emerald_ revealed a disturbing sight. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all covered with Grimm-like a moving carpet. As one, the _Arachnid_ horde all screeched and lunged at the duo.

Sonic and Ruby quickly whipped their weapons around, slicing off any limb that got too close. The two were defending themselves well, but it was obvious that they were tiring. Sonic's strikes with his swords were getting slower and weaker, and Ruby was breathing heavily in her helmet.

"There's… too many…" she moaned as she killed another Grimm that got too close. Suddenly, a huge pincer whacked her against a wall, and she fell forward.

"Ruby!" Sonic cried out. He tried to get to her, but for every _Arachnid_ he killed, two more seemed to replace the other.

Ruby staggered back up and picked up her weapon. "D-don't worry about me! Get to the Emerald!" She fired and swung her scythe, cleaving another Grimm in half. An alert flashed on her helmet, indicating that her aura and ammo reserves were dangerously low.

Sonic glanced from the _Chaos Emerald_ to Ruby, torn between his desire to save the world from Eggman, or to save one of his now closest friends. _'What do I do…'_ An _Arachnid_ sensed his turmoil and lunged, a leg aimed for his head intent on killing the Hedgehog.

Fortunately, the decision was taken away from him as a huge rock crashed into the cave from above and squashed several Grimm, including the one that jumped at Sonic. Two shapes jumped down from the new hole in the roof and landed silently, the sound muted in the vacuum. The light reflected from Remnant gleaned from the Atlesian Paladins, and the _Arachnid_ swarm screeched in confusion and anger towards the new intruders. For Ruby and Sonic, there couldn't have been a more beautiful sight.

"'Sup, guys?" asked Koki Fenris, who was the pilot of one of the Paladins. "Is this a private party?"

The other Paladin waved, then punched a Grimm into the ground. "Sorry if we just barged in on you, we were getting bored waiting in the _Ogygia._ " Amara said.

Sonic grinned. "The more the merrier, I'd say! And might I add that your timing was impeccable."

Koki saluted from his Paladin. "Our pleasure." He then turned to the _Arachnids_ and fired a large stream of bullets into them. "Now get that _Chaos Emerald_ so we can get the heck out of here!"

Sonic ran over to the gem and grabbed it, feeling a sense of accomplishment and relief that all seven _Chaos Emeralds_ were accounted for and were not in the hands of their enemies.

"What's happening with the others?" wondered Ruby, a worried expression breaking the smile on her face.

An _Arachnid_ suddenly flew between them, landing on its back in the middle of the cave. It spasmed once, then went still and slowly started to disintegrate. Sonic and Ruby turned their gazes to where it came from and saw a red-eyed Yang waving at them. "We're all okay, guys!" The blonde walked in, followed by everyone else. "And look what Silver managed to grab!"

The white Hedgehog reached behind his quills and pulled out a badge that had the name "Cassie" on the label. "Good… then let's get off this rock!" advised Koki. "Tails is getting the _Ogygia_ prepped for takeoff!"

The Paladins kneeled down. "Everyone, grab on. We're going out with a bang!" Amara reached for a large orb at the back of her Paladin and placed it on the ground. When everyone grabbed onto the handrails that appeared on the robots, they both jumped through the hole they made.

The Grimm screeched as their prey got further away, and they raced through the caves, eager to get to them before they escaped completely. A digital timer on the orb that Amara dropped lit up and started counting down from three minutes.

Back on the surface, the Paladins raced back to the ship, blasting away at any Arachnids that were found wandering on the surface as the passengers held on for dear life. Behind them, the Spider Droids left at the entrance shifted to a more mobile form and got in flanking positions, adding to the protective firepower.

"What was that thing you dropped back there?" asked Shadow, jumping off of Amara's Paladin and skating beside them as Sonic did the same. "I don't remember seeing that on the ship."

"That was just a little something Tails made after you guys left," she answered. "Apparently, someone wanted to keep us here, so he used parts from the bomb on the fuel valve and made a bomb that we could use instead."

"Wait, there was a BOMB on the ship?!" Ruby cried out.

"Oh, relax, the explosive parts are all in the black ball we left," reassured Koki. "A little 'going away' present to the Grimm. We even added something a little extra to it to make it better." He checked a timer on his wrist. "By the way, we should probably get out of here in less than two minutes."

Blake looked behind them and gasped. "We'd better get out of here sooner than that!"

A huge swarm of _Arachnids_ was following close behind, screeching in anger. "Tails, Aeromi, the ship had better be up and running, 'cuz we're coming in hot!" shouted Sonic.

Ahead, the _Ogygia_ 's engines fired up without a problem. The doors to the underside of the ship opened as it lifted up slightly. _"You'll have to jump the Paladins in the ship, guys! Leave the Spider Droids, they'll just slow us down!"_ Tails called out through the suit speakers.

"Got it. On my mark. Three… Two… One…" Amara counted down. "Mark!"

In unison, the two Paladins jumped from the lunar surface straight into the ship, the bay doors quickly closing. The Spider Droids left on the moon fought furiously, combining their cannons to cut through huge portions of the horde as the _Ogygia_ quickly gained altitude.

A hissing sound filled the room as it filled up with oxygen. Tails exited the cockpit and dashed to the vehicle bay, going through the doors as soon as the pressure equalised. "Guys, are you alright?"

A chorus of groans answered him. " _Well, no one's dead, so that's a good sign._ " commented Aeromi.

"That will probably give me nightmares for a long time," groaned and shivered Silver. "Thank Chaos those things can't get off of the moon."

"Yeah, no kidding," Weiss agreed as she pulled her helmet off. "By the way, when is that bomb going off?"

A large flash shone through the windows, almost blinding everyone. Outside, a small chunk of the moon cracked and broke off, adding more pieces to be dragged into the moon's orbit. Sonic glanced at the destruction and winced. "Wasn't that a bit much?"

"Probably," said Koki as he got out of the Paladin. "Still, better the moon than us."

Shadow growled. "So there was a bomb on our ship?"

"Yes, and quite a clever device. If it went off while still in the ship, it would have crippled our engines. We wouldn't have been killed by the blast, but by running out of oxygen."

"Or more likely getting ripped apart by the Grimm." added Amara.

Ruby sighed in vexation. "Who could have done this?"

Tails shrugged. "We'll have to look into that mystery for another time. For now, let's head home."

A chorus of cheers answered the Fox, and he smiled as he got back into the cockpit. _'Back home…'_ An uncomfortable thought struck him. _'But what is home? Mobius… or Remnant?'_


	61. Eggman's Escape

_Forest of Forever Fall, Egg ARK  
4:00 p.m._

Alarms blared through Eggman's base as the army of Atlas attacked, causing chaos inside. _Dark Pawns_ kept running back and forth in the halls, panicking in a comedic fashion before getting shot down by Atlesian Knights.

In the inner section of the base, Eggman typed furiously into a console. "Activate drones 15 through 60! Shut all blast doors!" He turned to Orbot and Cubot. "You two! How far have they gotten?!"

"The Atlesian army has infiltrated multiple routes, Doctor," replied Orbot calmly. "And they are steadily advancing."

"Cloakin' shield's been disabled, and power's gettin' drained away." Cubot glanced at Eggman. "Boss-man, Ah hate to say it, but we should probably skedaddle."

"Evacuate?!" Eggman cried out as he slammed his fists on the keyboard. "I am the Eggman, the one to take over this world and remake it as my own! I will never retreat!"

"But Doctor, if we stay, we will surely be taken into custody, and everything you have will be dismantled. If we leave, we can survive, and come back with even greater forces!" Orbot pleaded, both out of concern for Eggman and himself.

Eggman's eyes went back and forth over the screens, typing rapidly. "Well, there is the benefit of running to fight another day."

"It ain't the first time, either!" put in Cubot.

"Shut up, you bucket of bolts."

"No, I think you should stay, Doctor." a female voice called out from the entrance. Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot turned to the source, and were very surprised to see-

"Rouge?!"

The white Bat gave a smile and a wave. "Hi there, Eggy. Long time, no see~."

"How in blazes did you get in here?!" Eggman demanded, starting to worry for his safety.

She giggled softly. "Doctor, your security net is so full of holes, it couldn't catch a whale."

This was not true at all, of course. Thanks to the virus Aeromi planted in Eggman's computer systems, many things did go wrong with his operations. However, even the "Smart" A.I. couldn't make anything that could get past Eggman's security. Thankfully, his base wasn't built to defend against intruders from the inside, and a few breaching charges borrowed from the Atlesian military didn't hurt.

"Grrr… What are you doing here, you dirty thief?!" Eggman growled angrily.

"Why Eggman, I'm insulted!" said Rouge. "Didn't you know? We're fighting each other!"

"She has a point, Doctor." commented Orbot.

Eggman pulled out a small laser pistol and pointed it at the Bat. "So you came to challenge me in my own base alone?"

"Not alone." Winter Schnee stepped into the office. "Doctor Ivo Robotnik, you are under arrest by the authority of the Atlesian Military." She held up her sword. "Call off your robots. If you come quietly, we don't have to turn this into an execution."

"Oh, there's going to be an execution all right… Yours!" Eggman fired a pink bolt at the two, but Winter blocked it with her sword, deflecting it into the ceiling. He tried to fire again, but a bullet from one of Rouge's pistols hit the laser gun, making Eggman drop it.

"It's over, Doctor. You're fighting a battle you can't win." Winter narrowed her eyes. "There's no shame in surrendering."

Eggman was now sweating profusely, stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. He glanced over to his hover pod, just 10 feet away. If he could reach it, he would be safe to escape and activate the self-destruct of the base. But there was no way that Rouge and Winter would allow him to even move that direction.

Suddenly, Winter's radio crackled to life. _"Commander Schnee! Hostile contacts coming in from the south! It's the White Fang!"_

"What?!"

 _"They came out of nowhere! They're- aaagh!"_ the soldier's voice cut out. The base rumbled slightly, making Rouge and Winter lose their balance and stumble a bit.

Eggman, taking advantage of their distraction, raced to his pod at a speed that would even impress Sonic. He strapped himself in and pushed a few buttons, causing the machine to come to life. Two panels opened up in the front, and two missiles got into firing position pointing at Rouge and Winter. "Gahahaha! What was that about fighting a battle I can't win?!" He pushed a button, firing the missiles at them. "Get a load of this!"

Rouge quickly shot one missile while the other was intercepted by a small white _Nevermore_ summoned by Winter. The two explosions knocked them back and filled the room with smoke. Winter propped herself on an elbow and looked at Rouge. "Are you okay?!" she shouted due to the hearing loss caused by the explosions.

"I'm fine though my ears hurt!" she shouted back, holding them. As a Bat, her hearing was more sensitive than the other Mobians. She looked around the room. "Where did Eggman go?!"

Winter carefully stood upright and scanned the room. It was a complete mess, thanks to the missiles that Eggman launched at them. However, Orbot, Cubot, and the megalomaniac himself were nowhere to be found. "He got away!" she ground out, furious at herself for getting distracted.

More explosions rocked the base. "We'd better get out of here, too!" Rouge got up from the floor and headed to the exit. "If the White Fang is attacking, the army needs support!"

"Right!" Winter put the matter of Eggman's escape out of her mind for now. There would always be another chance to put him away for good.

That is, if he didn't release _Dralux_ first.

* * *

Outside, Eggman's Egg Pod hovered next to a Bullhead. "If you were one of my underlings, I'd give you an F in efficiency! But you get an A+ in perfect timing."

Roman Torchwick, leaning from the Bullhead, rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I always thought appearance matters most, anyways. Are you sure about leaving the base to them?"

"I don't like it, but my secondary facility is much closer, and can be more effective in the long run. The Grimm in this area have also all been cleared out, so there really is no point in me staying here," said Eggman. "Besides, this location is clearly not a secret anymore."

"You got that right…" Roman sighed. "At any rate, I just got orders from my… employer. She wants us to bide our time and don't make any reckless moves at the moment. Not until she gets back."

"Hm… So where is the fire witch, and when will she get back?"

"Sir, we should go now, the Atlesian army is sending reinforcements." the pilot Faunus said to Roman.

"Alright then, Perry. Move us back to the hideout." He looked at Eggman. "No more than a week. See you later, Egghead."

As the two separated, Eggman had a feeling that his alliance with Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall would be hazardous to his health. "I'd better get my own backup plans ready..." he muttered to himself as his pod blasted off towards _Mountain Glenn_.

* * *

_Somewhere in the unknown Grimm Lands_

Cinder Fall walked up a small pathway, her heels clicking softly on the stone. The landscape surrounding her differed greatly from the _Forest of Forever Fall_. There were no plants to be found, no trees or grass or flowers. Just bare rock and purple _Dust crystals_ that glowed softly in a feeble attempt to make the area less dreary, and in fact, gave the land more of an evil aura.

Most people would want to get away from such a place, but for Cinder, this was the only place where she truly felt at home. It was the solitude she liked, for there was only one other person to share it with in this place.

She looked up at the end of the path, seeing the other person. A woman with white hair was gazing at the land, her cloak wrapped around her shoulders. Sensing the other woman's presence, she turned around, showing Cinder her pale face and red eyes. "Welcome, my apprentice." she said softly.

Cinder kneeled before her as a sign of subservience and respect. "Mistress." She smiled at the other woman. "It's been too long."

Cinder's 'Mistress' nodded. "Indeed… I have heard much about your achievements in _Vale_. Soon, the emptiness in you will be fulfilled, my dear."

"Until then, I'll let this hunger fuel my desires." she said, rising. "However… I have a feeling that our partnership with Dr. Eggman needs to be rethought."

"What are your reasons?" 'Mistress' asked, curious.

"Simply put, he's too focused on the other Mobians, and his plans for _Dralux_ are remarkable shallow, with no regard for what happens after he destroys his nemesis, Sonic the Hedgehog." Cinder said with disdain.

'Mistress' crossed her arms. "I take it you have a backup plan?"

"Yes, Mistress." With that, Cinder explained to her 'Mistress' what her plan was. When she was finished, the pale woman gave an evil smirk.

"I would expect no less from you. You have my permission and my blessing. Go forth and do what must be done."

As Cinder left, 'Mistress' once again looked out upon the hellish landscape, her red eyes glowing with a sinister light. "Ozpin… Your days of peace will be brought to an end soon enough…"


	62. Back to Beacon

_Beacon Academy, Team RWBY's dorm  
_ _8:00 p.m._

Zwei jumped from Weiss's bed, barking happily as Ruby opened the door. "Hey, Zwei!" exclaimed Ruby, giggling as the corgi jumped up and licked her face. "Did you miss us? I missed you too!"

Yang gave a bit of affection to the dog before collapsing on the floor. "Man… gravity sucks." she moaned. "I wanna go back to the moon…"

"You want to go back to the place filled with killer Grimm bugs?" asked Blake as she sat on her bed.

"On second thought, just to space."

It was a few hours after a successful touchdown back to Remnant, and after a lengthy debriefing by a grateful Ironwood, specially since they returned the name tags of his old crew-mates to the General personally, the members of Team RWBY were glad to be back at Beacon.

Silver followed the girls back to their dorm room, their luggage levitating behind him via his Psychokinesis. "Well, that was quite the experience. Not one I'd want to repeat, of course." The white Hedgehog dropped the suitcases inside the room.

"I certainly won't be getting those images out of my head for a while." Weiss groaned, remembering the huge pincers of the Grimm _Arachnids_. Her Scroll started ringing, and she took it out irritably. "This had better not be dad." she said through ground teeth. Her expression brightened somewhat as she saw who it was, and answered it quickly. "Winter? Is that you?"

 _"It is, sister,"_ the older Schnee answered. _"I had heard that you had gotten back from the moon, and I was wondering if we might have a chance to speak together."_

"That sounds lovely! But please don't be offended if I suddenly start falling asleep. Where are you?"

This time, it was Rouge who answered. _"Don't bother, we'll come to you. We've had quite a busy day ourselves."_

Yang, hearing the Bat's voice from Weiss's scroll, looked up from the floor. "What's Rouge doing with your sister? And why isn't Rouge dead yet?"

 _"All will be explained shortly. Better get Big Blue in there, too. This is pretty important."_ With that, Rouge hung up.

Fifteen minutes later, Winter Schnee walked into the room, Rouge giving her minor support. She was almost recovered from the battle against Eggman, but she was still pretty tired. Her eyes took in the organised chaos that was Team RWBY's dorm room. "Weiss Schnee, what have you been doing in here? Are those… bunk beds?" she asked incredulously.

Ruby rose up from her bed, which was supported by ropes. "Trust us, they're much safer than they look!" she reassured, putting down her _Camp Camp_ comic book.

"Although we should probably replace the dictionary on this corner soon." amended Blake. Her bed was under Yang's- which was supported by books.

"My fellow teammates," Weiss began, holding herself up like royalty, "I'd like to introduce my older sister, Winter Schnee. Winter, this is Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, and-" She glanced down at Yang, still laying on the ground. "-Yang Xiao Long." The blonde raised her hand in a weak thumbs-up expectation before it slammed down on the floor.

It took a moment for Winter to respond. "Well… I'm not sure how to react to all of this, to be honest…"

"I know, you're so impressed that you're at a loss for words!" Ruby said with a innocent grin.

Winter studied the young girl. "So you're the leader that my sister mentioned. I thank you for taking an interest in her." She walked up to her and spoke in a low voice, "I trust that she hasn't been too difficult for you to handle?" The younger Schnee immediately blushed, knowing that Ruby was going to make her look bad to her sister.

Ruby giggled and shook her head. "Only a little at first. But we were all getting used to each other back then, so that's just water under the bridge!"

Winter smiled, then sat down on Weiss's bed as Sonic finally entered the room with a large plate of Chili Dogs. After a quick introduction to the blue Hedgehog, she began to speak. "I don't know if you've been told yet, but while your team and the Mobians were on the moon, the army of Atlas made a strike against Eggman's base."

Everyone in the room collectively gasped, and Yang got up from the floor, exhaustion temporarily forgotten. "Wait, you went after him without us?!" griped Sonic. "He's MY arch-enemy, not yours!"

"He's an enemy to Remnant as well as Mobius," Winter responded. She then told everyone the events of the attack with some assistance from Rouge. "Unfortunately, he escaped with help from Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. We tried to follow them, but the C.C.T.S. is the only way to track them, and that isn't too reliable right now. In the end, we lost him."

Weiss gave a sigh of disappointment. "So much for a quick end to this conflict… at least you're both okay."

"I wouldn't worry too much about Egghead, hon." said Rouge as she ran a filer along her nails. "Chances are, he'll show up again soon with a back-up army. That's how it usually happens back home."

"There's got to be a way to find him. Maybe if we found out where the White Fang was, we'd be able to find him." Blake suggested, hoping that Winter wouldn't ask questions about who she was underneath her bow.

The older Schnee pondered the thought. "An interesting thought… and it would be nice to bring the White Fang to justice at the same time."

Yang grinned and pointed a thumb at herself. "I know just the guy to talk to. We can go to him tomorrow."

"If it's who I think it is, you should probably go with Knuckles," Ruby adviced. "He probably still hasn't forgiven you after what you did to his place."

"Yeah, but as for right now, let's all get some sleep," said Sonic. "We can go over details in the morning and get everyone else caught up." He vaulted off the chair and headed to his room. "See you ladies later!"

Winter stood up from the bed. "I should be off, too. I would love a chance to talk to you at length, sister. We have much catching up to do."

"Of course." agreed Weiss, giving her older sister a smile. "I look forward to it."

As Winter left with Rouge, Blake couldn't help thinking about how uncertain the future was. If Eggman had his way, panic would spread throughout the kingdoms, and panic would bring more Grimm. They needed more information, but how could they get it?

* * *

_The Crow Bar, Vale Docks  
_ _12:25 a.m._

"My, you've got quite a stomach there, mister! Golly, I've never seen anyone drink that much whiskey!"

The stranger turned his bloodshot eyes to the bartender, the dim light showing a worn, unshaven face. "I'm jus' gettin' started…" he slurred, clearly drunk. He ran a hand through his dark gray medium-length hair as he downed another shot. "Been on the road too long…"

His appearance certainly suggested that he was a traveler, most likely a Huntsman. His clothes, black pants and a gray shirt with a red cape, were dirty and torn in places, and the weapon on his back, a rather large sword, looked like it had seen a lot of use. "So what's happened since last month? I haven't read the newspaper yet." Besides the bartender and the stranger, there was no one in the bar at this hour.

"Mister, you would not believe it!" The bartender turned on the television. After fiddling with his Scroll, the screen showed a group photo of the Mobians with the blue Hedgehog in the front with a thumbs-up and a smile.

The stranger squinted his eyes. "What are they supposed to be, some sort of new Faunus?"

"No, sir!" The bartender exclaimed. "They're aliens!"

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the sounds of the nearby ocean. "I think I've drank too much, because I thought I heard you say that they're aliens."

"It's all true! Crashed in front of _Beacon Academy_ a few weeks ago!" The bartender then explained as best as he could about what they were and how they came to Remnant. As he finished, the stranger pulled a few lien cards from his wallet and tossed them at the bar before standing up and walking out. "Hey, where are you goin'?"

"This is somethin' I gotta see in person." the stranger slurred as he staggered out of the bar. "And I've got business in Beacon anyways…"

As he left, the caws of a crow could be heard as it flew off to parts unknown. _'Well, Ozpin… I hope Ironwood is there with you because we all have business with the other. You should know by now to not keep a Branwen out of the loop.'_


	63. As the Qrow flies

_Beacon Academy,_ Tornado X _workshop  
_ _10:05 a.m._

"Wow… you guys sure had a heck of a time," said Jaune as the moon team finished telling everyone else what happened. "I don't think I could have lasted past the launch."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, but we should really thank Koki and Amara. Their timing could not have been better." The Hedgehog shuddered at the memory, which was the closest he came to dying since saving the _Wisps_ from Eggman's theme park- or more accurately, the explosion that they saved him from.

"I attached a gift card with Ironwood's paycheck to them," said Ruby, swinging her legs under her chair. "By the way, Weiss owes me a few hundred Lien since she couldn't pay for it."

"My card was declined!" the heiress said stiffly. "I don't want to talk about it."

A loud gasp drew everyone's attention as Nora pointed a finger at Yang. "Blondie, I hope you remember your promise about getting me a moon rock!" she declared.

Yang grinned and reached into her pouch, pulling out a hand-sized rock and tossing it to the hammer wielder. "Here ya go. That's probably the one rock that wasn't confiscated by the Atlas scientists when we got back."

"I don't even want to know how you managed to hide that." muttered Shadow.

Nora beamed and put the rock in her pouch. "Thank you~."

"Now that you're all safe and sound, maybe now we can talk about that 'bomb' that was on the ship?" asked Blaze, clinging to Silver tightly. The Cat had clung to him ever since he came back and learned about the explosive that increased the debris field of Remnant's moon.

Aeromi's image appeared on a nearby holoprojector. " _Post-mission analysis indicates that the cameras were tampered with the night before launch. There's a ten minute period where looped footage of blank hallways were played. Unfortunately, whoever did it erased the original footage completely. Even with my processing power, I can't recreate it._ "

Ren put a hand to his chin in thought. "I'll go ahead and ask the big question on everyone's mind- Could Eggman be the one who did it?"

"NEGATIVE. AN APPROACH LIKE THAT IS NOT PART OF EGGMAN'S M.O. HIS METHODS INCLUDE EXPLOSIONS, WASTEFUL BOASTING, AND PROCLAMATIONS OF DOOM," answered Omega. "CLEARLY, THIS WAS CAUSED BY SOMEONE LIKE COMRADE ROUGE."

"How did someone get into the ship during that time, anyways?" asked Pyrrha, her hand in Jaune's. "Wasn't Tails in the _Ogygia_ when all of this happened? Not to mention out of all of us in the room who could detect an intruder, Aeromi's probably the best person to do so."

The A.I. turned her head to the warrior with a smile. " _First of all, thank you for thinking of me as a person, not just a program. Second, I was unfortunately offline for an hour for system maintenance and upgrades, so I didn't see or hear anything._ "

"I thought I would take a nap while waiting for the upgrades, so I was asleep at the time," admitted Tails, his head lowered in embarrassment and shame. "I'm sorry guys… It's my fault…"

Shadow, who was employed at a place where someone could be arrested for similar acts of dereliction of duty, did something no one expected. "You were able to discover it before it left us stranded on the moon surrounded by _Arachnids_. I'd say you made up for it in full." The black Hedgehog gave an encouraging smile, showing that there was nothing to be sorry about.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant sight?" said a voice from behind the _Tornado X_ , the owner revealing his presence to the gathered beings. This was the same traveller who had a drink at the bar on the coast the night before, and if his clothes were anything to go by, he still hadn't gotten himself cleaned up. Teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as the Mobians, immediately lifted their weapons to face the intruder.

Except two of the humans.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby shouted, launching herself at the man. He somehow caught her as she clung to his arm. "I missed you so much!"

Yang was a little more contained as she ran up and gave him a hug. "Stand down guys. He's no enemy, except to the Grimm."

"Wait… who are you?" asked Sonic, putting away his swords. Everyone else followed his lead, though Omega was still pointing something at him.

The man ruffled Ruby's hair before face the hedgehog. "Name's Qrow. I taught these girls everything they know. At least, before they started coming here," he said with a grin. "I'm also Ruby and Yang's uncle."

"THIS HUMAN'S BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT IS .80%," stated Omega, sounding bewildered despite his monotone voice. "ERROR. DOES NOT SEEM PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE."

"So what if I like to drink?" Qrow grumbled, reaching into a flask from his shirt and drinking some unidentifiable liquid, most likely more booze. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"There is if your blood has more alcohol content than a light beer." muttered Shadow.

Qrow ignored the comment as he studied the otherworldly beings. "So you're the 'aliens' I've heard about…. You're shorter than I thought you'd be."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Amy indignantly.

"Absolutely nothing. I know for a fact that even the smallest person can be the most dangerous given the right circumstances. Case in point, the girl on my arm." he said, pointing at Ruby.

"Does that make Zwei Exhibit B?" asked Knuckles, who was holding the corgi. The dog barked an affirmative, making everyone chuckle in amusement.

"All that being said, I do have a few issues with you… Mobians. You sure messed up by bringing that mad doctor with you."

Sonic narrowed his eyes, fingers tightening on _Cobalt Shard's_ handle. "What was that?" he managed to say through his teeth, fighting back his anger.

"Technically, Eggman brought them," said Ruby, letting go of his arm. "But what's your point?"

"My point is that a megalomaniac running around causing panic is the last thing that we need," said Qrow as he leaned against a pillar. "The Creatures of Grimm are naturally attracted to negative emotions. So whenever that Eggman decides to go on a rampage- which I'm guessing he will if your expressions are anything to go by- you'll end up fighting on two fronts as the civilians panic. Unless you can find a way to make this big fight an even bigger secret, Eggman will be the last thing you should worry about."

"So what, we're supposed to try and find out where he is and bring the fight to him?" asked Silver sarcastically, then he put a hand to his chin in thought. "Actually… that doesn't sound like a half-bad idea."

"You're right… except we have no idea where he is. All we know is that he's allied himself with the White Fang and Roman Torchwick." Blake pointed out.

"Hold on, didn't that Tali girl infiltrate their ranks? Why don't we just ask her?" Jaune suggested.

"Wait, so someone was able to infiltrate the most elusive terrorist organisation in the world?" scoffed Qrow, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "How the heck did she pull that off? And can she be trusted at all?"

" _Easy questions to answer. One, she disguised herself as a disgruntled and revenge-seeking Faunus,_ " answered Aeromi. " _And two, she's part of an organisation called_ The Company _. She's currently engaged to the captain of their base of operations, the_ Normandy _._ "

"Oh, those guys?" the Huntsman asked, his expression brightening somewhat. "They actually saved me once. Pretty fancy ship, though it doesn't look like it on the outside. Then again, that was the point."

"Wait, you needed saving at one point?" asked Ruby, poking his cheek.

He swatted her hand away. "Hey, get off my back, Red. Even I can't handle a stampede of raging _Goliaths_." He got up from the pillar, ruffling Ruby's hair. "Now before you guys go off to see them, I gotta meet up with Ozpin. Catch ya later, kiddo." With that, Ruby's uncle left the room for his unknown errand.

"So he couldn't stand up to a herd of _Goliaths_?" asked Nora. "Isn't he a badass Huntsman? I bet I could have taken them with my thunder thighs!"

" _Isn't that a derogatory term?_ " asked Aeromi with an amused smile.

In response, Nora stood up and squatted down in a sumo pose. She then lifted one foot off the ground and holding it up for a few seconds before slamming it back down. The resulting boom could have been heard all the way from Vale. Nora smirked at the A.I.'s shocked expression, which pretty much mirrored everyone else's. "You tell me!"

* * *

_Mountain Glenn, Eggman's Backup Facility  
_ _10:10 a.m._

When Eggman first joined up with these native villains, he viewed the Creatures of Grimm as a convenient power source, not unlike the small animals of Mobius, the organic fragments of _Dark Gaia_ , and even the _Wisps_. But as he typed his findings into his journal, he couldn't help but wonder if he had bitten off more than he could chew. Sure, they were infinite in number, but when one of the energy sources was a 20-foot tall _Nevermore_ , the logistics of using it became as much a nightmare as the creature itself was to most of the world. Remnant's Most Wanted criminal wasn't exactly helping matters, either.

"Hey Doc, what are these squiggly lines for?" Roman Torchwick asked, studying a sheet of paper coming out of a machine. He had entered the room half an hour earlier and kept asking questions about the various sensors and gadgets laying around. It was hard to tell if he was looking for something or just snooping around.

The would-be tyrant glanced his direction. "That's just a 'Richter scale'. It detects changes in the planet's geology and displays them on that paper. The lines indicate earthquakes and intensity levels." He ripped off the sheet and studied it closely. "Hm… A 2.0 level earthquake at Beacon Academy?"

"I'm sure it's just one of the brats showing off. I swear, these kids just keep getting weirder…"

"How could human adolescents do such a thing?" asked Orbot, who was keeping an eye on Torchwick. Cubot was currently getting a system update that would hopefully fix his voice chip, so he was offline for the moment.

Roman shrugged. "I don't know, how can there be world full of talking animals who have abilities similar to _Semblances_?"

"Hm…" Orbot hummed and scratched his head in thought. "You do have a fair point."

Eggman turned back to his desk. "Well, it doesn't matter. Soon, my factory will finish replenishing the _Dark Pawn_ army, and my ultimate creation will be complete!"

Before Eggman could begin his maniacal laughter, the door to the lab slid open. "And how soon is soon, dear doctor?" said Cinder, her ankle bracelet clinking as she stepped in. "With your main adversary gone, I'm surprised you haven't proclaimed your rule of Remnant already."

Eggman slowly turned to face her, his expression unreadable. "I wouldn't underestimate that Hedgehog, he has more lives than I care to count." He then slammed a button on his desk, a TV screen turning on and showing drone footage of the _Ogygia_ landing at Beacon, safe and sound, and definitely not blown up. "What the hell happened?! The ship barely has any burn marks!"

There was a brief flicker of surprise as she watched the mixed crew of Mobians and humans walking out of the ship. "So… they're more resilient than I thought…"

"So even the great and mighty Cinder Fall couldn't beat Sonic?" Eggman taunted her.

The woman glared at him, and Roman was very surprised that there wasn't an Eggman-shaped pile of ash right after he said that. "There was an unexpected variable… An artificial intelligence program that was inserted into the ship before takeoff. It must have detected the explosive."

"An A.I.?" Eggman asked sharply, leaning forward on his desk. "How advanced was it?"

"Very… It could engage in conversation with the orange Fox, as well as offer opinions. She was actually more human than some people I know." she admitted.

Eggman froze up as he listened to her. "Wait a minute… 'She'?"

"The one who actually placed the bomb in the ship mentioned a female voice. She couldn't sabotage her with the ship since that would have immediately raised an alarm. After all, we did want the launch to be successful."

Eggman began typing furiously on his keyboard. "There was a female program who was helping those rats in Remnant's _digital network_. It must be the same one..." he growled, furious that something managed to outsmart him. The fact that she was an A.I. who could think hundreds of times faster than he could was irrelevant.

"Doctor, how are you going to deal with the A.I.? It poses as much a threat to our plans as Sonic, possibly even more." asked Orbot, rolling to Eggman's side and looking up at the screen.

Eggman looked down at him, a furious expression on his face. "Find out where its main storage unit is, isolate it so it can't jump between devices, and delete that program." The doctor put up a security feed of Beacon Academy's workshop. The footage showed the hologram of Aeromi flash from a table projector to the _Tornado X_. "Permanently!" he finished, his mouth twisting upward into an evil grin.


	64. Night with Druncle Qrow

_Beacon Academy, Ozpin's office  
_ _12:05 p.m._

Ozpin glanced up at the man in front of him. "And you're sure about this?"

"Absolutely. There hasn't been any new activity from her." answered Qrow, taking a sip from his flask. "It's like she's waiting for something."

"Likely, that 'something' is Eggman." said Glynda. "The students aren't aware of it, but Grimm attacks have been steadily rising along the borders since he announced his presence. Granted, most of those have been stuffed into a robot and used for energy."

"I don't know whether I should be impressed or disgusted by his ingenuity. It sounds like he could easily use normal animals instead of Grimm."

Ozpin sat back in his desk chair. "From what Mr. Prower-"

"Who?"

"-the young Mobian Fox known as Tails, says that normal animals were the original source of energy for Eggman's _Badniks_."

"Interesting. Glad to know that he's fueled robots with monsters." said Qrow. "Now, when were you going to tell me about these 'Mobians'?"

In response, Ozpin put up a recording of the day when Eggman took over Remnant's _digital realm_. "We tried. But Eggman's takeover of the communications systems corrupted many messages. Even now, communications are still not as reliable as they used to be. We simply couldn't get in contact with you about this new development." Ozpin finished. "I am sorry, but it was out of my control."

"Well, isn't that convenient… So, why don't you tell me all about them?"

With that, Ozpin and Glynda related to Qrow the recent events surrounding the Mobians' arrival, as well as the various encounters with Vale's criminal network. Qrow listened with rapt attention, his flask temporarily forgotten. When they were finished relaying the events, Qrow sat back in the chair. "So now that they've gotten all seven of these special _Chaos Emeralds_ , when do they depart for their home world?"

"I don't think that thought had occurred to them yet, but I imagine that they would want to return with Eggman in chains to their world. Because he's teamed up with the ones who want this time of peace to end, it will be difficult to locate him again." Ozpin said while tapping his cane in thought, leave out the part about the _Chaos Emerald_ ritual.

Qrow gave an amused chuckle. "Yeah, I doubt that dropping a 'banana peel' from a flying Bullhead would work twice."

Glynda handed the Huntsman a computer chip. "Fortunately, an outside source infiltrated the White Fang and got locations for numerous weapon stockpiles and bases. We have not acted upon them yet, though holding back General Ironwood is beginning to become more difficult. This is a list acquired three weeks ago."

Qrow Branwen took the chip and put it away. "Those locations could easily be abandoned by now, but it's a good place to start. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a leak."

"Qrow?"

The Huntsman stopped in front of the elevator at the Headmaster's word. "What do you intend to do regarding this information?"

"Me? Oh, I don't know…" Qrow glanced back at Ozpin and gave him a mischievous grin. "I think I'll play with my younger niece, then go out clubbing with the older one. Be warned, we may cause a little ruckus."

Ozpin chuckled softly as Qrow stepped into the elevator. "I'm sure you will. Just don't let the repair bill get too high."

"Can't promise ya that, Ozzy." he said, winking as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

_Hei "Junior" Xiong's Bar in downtown Vale  
_ _8:00 p.m._

Yang glanced at her uncle, now on his third shot of alcohol. "Hey Uncle Qrow," she began to ask, "why are we?"

Qrow let out a belch as he turns around to Yang. "We're here because while the information gathered by Tali Williams points us to _Mountain Glenn_ , having two independent sources confirming it make it more likely that it's not a trap. It's not that I don't trust her, it's just that we need more pieces to this puzzle. "

"Seems like a smart thing to do." agreed Shadow, who joined them at the bar as backup. "At any rate, it was worth seeing the panic on that guy's face when he saw Yang."

It had taken a bit for the dance club to get reopened after all the damage Yang had inflicted on both the building and the goons that were hired as staff. So Junior's thugs naturally panicked and pointed all sorts of weapons at her. Fortunately, Qrow's smooth tongue and large sword on his back eased and discouraged any tensions, and Junior was now digging through his information about the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. The Malachite twins watched them with tense expressions, daring them to try something.

"Hey kid, that reminds me… why did you come here in the first place?"

Yang turned her head away from his searching eyes. "I was looking for someone." she said softly.

"Yang… don't tell me you're still looking for your mom." Qrow rested his hands on his chin and gazed at the blonde. "Did you forget what happened with you and Ruby?"

Yang tightened her fists. "I haven't forgotten… But that doesn't mean I'm giving up on it. I know she's out there somewhere." Purple eyes met Qrow's red ones. "She was your sister, wouldn't you want to know if she's still out there? And if she is alive, why she left Taiyang… and me?"

Qrow took a long sigh, a pain in his chest as he tried to find the right words. "I would like to say that I would want to know, but Raven always had more of a temper than you… It's not at all likely she's alive." he lied, hating himself for doing this to his niece. He actually did know what became of Raven Branwen- but Yang wasn't ready to know just yet.

Shadow glanced at the Huntsman, catching the lie. Before he could call him out on it, an envelope was dropped in the middle of the table. "Okay, Blondie. Here's all the information I have on Torchwick and others associated with the White Fang."

"Really?" Yang brightened up as she opened the envelope and began reading the information inside. "Thank you for helping!"

"Not that you had much of a choice, to be honest." Shadow chuckled darkly, a hand stroking _Crimson Dusk_ affectionately. Junior's expression darkened at the comment, and the Malachite sisters tensed up considerably.

"Well, it's been fun, but I think we should get back to Beacon. Yang, Shadow, let's go."

As the three stood up to leave, two of Junior's goons blocked the exit. "Not so fast. You think you can come into my club and make a fool out of me?" Junior challenged, putting on a pair of red shades. All at once, Qrow, Yang, and Shadow were surrounded by men in black suits- and each one was holding either an axe, sword, or pistol.

"Oh come on, Junior, can't we just kiss and make up?" Yang asked, giving him a flirty flip of her hair and a teasing wink.

"Ohhh no, I'm not falling for that stunt again." he growled. "Boys, get our patrons out. Don't want to kill any paying customers by accident."

At Junior's command, a siren went up in the club. Anyone who had any sense immediately went for the exit that wasn't blocked, leaving the club abandoned. Only Qrow, Yang, and Shadow were left. "Okay, this is gonna be fun." said Yang, cracking her knuckles and prepping her _Ember Celica_ gauntlets.

"Easy there, Firecracker." Shadow stepped forward and pulled out _Crimson Dusk_ in rifle form. "Save your strength, I've got this."

Qrow held back a laugh. "You, against all of them? If you're trying to impress me, feel free."

Shadow glanced back at the Huntsman. "I think that seeing one of us 'Aliens' fight would allow you to realize we aren't just ignorant creatures. That being said, I doubt that beating this rabble would impress you. I just want to cut loose." He reached behind his quills and tossed a disk to the DJ booth. "You in the bear head! Make yourself useful and put that on."

The panicked DJ barely caught the disk and put it on in the player before the Hedgehog teleported to the middle of the dance floor, a feral grin on his face. "Okay, boys. Let's dance."

"Try not to kill anyone, Shadow!" Yang called out. The black and red Hedgehog acknowledged her with a wave of his hand. The music began as Junior's gang started their attack.

_Fall Out Boy- Novocaine **(A/N: I tried to find a different song, but it fits so well that I just couldn't change it.)**_

**This is a black, black ski mask song  
** **So put all of your anger on  
** **In the truly gruesome do we trust  
** **I will always land on you like a sucker punch**

As the mob came at Shadow with swords and axes, the Hedgehog shifted his weapon to katana form and deflected the blows of three axes, pushing them back with enough force to knock the owners down to the ground. He followed up with a punch to another guy's head, which was enough to deplete the unfortunate mobster's Aura.

 **Singing I am your worst, I am your worst nightmare  
** **I am your worst, I am your worst nightmare  
** **If you knew, knew what the bluebirds sang at you,  
** **You would never sing along  
** **Cast them out cause this is our culture  
** **These new flocks are nothing but vultures**

"Is this guy for real?" asked Qrow, an amused smile on his face as he watched Shadow completely decimate four guys that rushed him. "I'd hate to be his enemy."

"He was designed to be the 'Ultimate Life Form' from where he comes from." responded Yang, dodging a bottle of booze kicked up from the fight.

Qrow caught the bottle and began to drink from it. "Designed, huh? Sounds like an intense story."

Yang glanced at her uncle. "You have no idea."

 **Because they took our love and they filled it up  
** **Filled it up with Novocaine and now I'm just numb  
** **Now I'm just numb**

Seeing that half of the regular goons were now laying on the ground, the smarter ones began to shoot at him. Shadow fed power to his shoes and began speeding around the dance floor, dodging bullets with ease. Within a blink of an eye, the Hedgehog began teleporting behind each goon and took out each one with a kick or a punch. _Crimson Dusk_ was used to slice through each gun, often making them explode in the user's hands.

 **And don't mind me, I'm just a son of a gun  
** **So don't stop, don't stop until your heart goes numb  
** **Now I'm just numb  
** **I don't feel a thing for you**

As the smoke cleared, Shadow was the only one standing amidst the groaning bodies of Junior's gang. "Is that all? Surely you've got something else." the Ultimate Life Form taunted. His grin widened at as the Malachite twins raced towards him, "Oh, goodie."

Qrow sat back with his bottle of alcohol. He was beginning to admire Shadow, despite how obviously overpowered he was compared to the gang. "I'm beginning to regret my initial thought about those Mobians belonging in _Menagerie._ " he said, referencing the continent where the Faunus were once sent before the wars.

 **I'm just a problem that doesn't want to be solved  
** **So could you please hold your applause  
** **Take this sideshow and all its freaks  
** **And turn it into the silver screen dream**

Shadow shifted _Crimson Dusk_ to rifle form and began firing at the Malachites. Miltiades _(A.K.A. Miltia)_ blocked the bolts with her claws while Melanie jumped up and deflected them with her white heels. "Miltia, take right!" Melanie yelled. The red-clad girl nodded as she separated from her, getting behind Shadow while Melanie got in front. Both girls rushed again towards the Hedgehog, forcing him to switch _Crimson Dusk_ back to katana form in order to block the blows.

 **Singing I am your worst, I am your worst nightmare  
** **I am your worst, I am your worst nightmare  
** **If you knew, knew what the bluebirds sang at you,  
** **You would never sing along  
** **Cast them out cause this is our culture  
** **These new flocks are nothing but vultures**

The Malachites unleashed a flurry of kicks and slices against Shadow, hoping to overwhelm him. The black Hedgehog deflected each one before performing a backflip and kicking Melanie in the face. He then turned around to block and redirect Miltia's claws, filling the nightclub with the clang of metal hitting metal.

 **Because they took our love and they filled it up  
** **Filled it up with Novocaine and now I'm just numb  
** **Now I'm just numb  
** **And don't mind me, I'm just a son of a gun  
** **So don't stop, don't stop until your heart goes numb  
** **Now I'm just numb  
** **I don't feel a thing for you**

Miltia finally made a critical mistake and thrust a claw forward at Shadow, exposing herself. The Hedgehog reflexively dodged and punched her in the gut, the sound of glass breaking heard as her Aura was finally depleted. "I have no problems with you. So leave, if you want to live." he snarled.

The Malachites were fiercely loyal to Junior, but even they knew that to continue fighting Shadow was suicide. The sisters quickly fled, and the black Hedgehog looked around for the next round.

A spotlight shone down on a familiar figure walking toward him with a bazooka on his shoulder. "You're even more of a monster than Blondie." Junior growled before firing seven rockets at once at Shadow.

 **I said one day the valley's gonna swallow me whole  
** _**(Hijack the hype! Hijack the hype!)** _

"CHAOS… CONTROL!" Shadow yelled while holding up his green _Chaos Emerald_. He disappeared in a flash of green light before the rockets hit, appearing behind Junior. "Thanks for the compliment." he chuckled evilly.

 **And I feel like a photo that's been over-exposed  
** _**(Hijack the hype! Hijack the hype!)** _

Junior turned around quickly, transforming his launcher into a giant club and began to hit Shadow with it repeatedly. The blows came fast and hard, and Shadow was knocked back by a smack in the face. Junior slowly walked towards the Hedgehog with a triumphant smirk. He lifted his club up, then brought it down with all the strength he had.

 **They took our love and they filled it up  
** **Filled it up with Novocaine and now I'm just numb  
** **Now I'm just numb**

A single palm blocked the club's path with a ***BOOM***. Shadow stood back up with a huge smirk and fired _Crimson Dusk_ into the club, breaking it in half before transforming it and pointing the tip at Junior's neck.

"Who… who are you?" the mobster whispered, staring at his broken weapon and dropping it.

 **And don't mind me, I'm just a son of a gun  
** **So don't stop, don't stop until your heart goes numb**

"Me?" Shadow pulled the sword away before punching Junior straight into the bar. "I'm the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog!"

 **Now I'm just numb  
** **I don't feel a thing for you**

As the song ended, the groans of the henchmen substituted the music. Qrow stood up and walked to the hedgehog, "I don't know what's more impressive, that you finished off this gang of hoodlums without a scratch, or that your fight had less death and destruction than I'm sure you're capable of."

Shadow shrugged as he stored _Crimson Dusk_ away with a flourish. "I've seen and caused too much death for one lifetime. I'll never die of old age, so the fewer faces in my nightmares, the better. I only truly let out my aggression against monsters, be they human or otherwise."

The Hunstman smirked and got two shot glasses out, filling them with alcohol before passing one to the Hedgehog. "I think I can help you and your friends out. Here's to bar fights and great fights," he said, clinking the glass against Shadow's before they poured the liquid down their throats.

Yang couldn't help but smile. "Now that you two are friends, can we get back to school and go over this information with the others?"

Shadow and Qrow followed the girl out, speeding up their walking pace as police sirens were beginning to approach the block. The black Hedgehog glanced at Qrow and wondered how much he really knew about Yang's mother. He resolved to find, though.

By any means necessary.

"Ah crap, I forgot to get my Strawberry Sunrise!"


	65. The Next Step

_Beacon Academy, Tails' workshop  
_ _8:00 a.m._

"So now we know that Eggman's location is somewhere within _Mountain Glenn_?" asked Amy as Yang finished updating everyone on what she, Qrow, and Shadow did the previous night. "What's so special about that place anyways?"

"Doctor Oobleck spoke about it a few times in class," Pyrrha responded. "It was supposed to be an expansion of Vale that ultimately failed because it didn't have much protection from the Creatures of Grimm. It was abandoned several years ago after many attacks that ended up killing most of the people there."

"Sounds about as cheerful as my home time, except Iblis and his creatures are gone," Silver said grimly. "Your monsters are still around."

Aeromi, who was projecting her avatar from a nearby desk, spoke up. " _I've been digging into the information gathered by Junior, and he's done several supply runs southeast of Vale. Someone else takes them from him and sends them outside the kingdom._ "

The sound of a keyboard tapping away drew everyone's attention to Tails. The Fox put his scroll on the desk, which projected a few statistical analyses. "Additionally, Grimm numbers seem to be unusually high in that area, and they've recently increased even more."

"Check out the dates on those estimates." Rouge said, pointing a finger at one of the figures. "That was the day after we attacked Eggman in _Forever Fall_."

"Eggman could probably attract more Grimm on his own than Torchwick and the White Fang combined." Sonic commented, earning a few chuckles.

"BASED ON THE DATA COLLECTED, THE PROBABILITY THAT EGGMAN IS LOCATED IN MOUNTAIN GLENN IS 93.7% IN FAVOUR." droned Omega. "LIKELIHOOD OF VALE CRIMINAL NETWORK ALSO PRESENT, 83.9%."

"So all of our enemies are in one location," Ren concluded. "But how can we act on this information without alerting them?"

After several minutes of pondering, Ruby raised her hand excitedly. "I know! We'll mail ourselves there!"

"Mail ourselves to an abandoned city filled with Grimm, criminals, and robots, all of which want to kill us?" asked Blaze, sweatdropping with the rest of the room. "Well, they certainly wouldn't expect that, but let's try and come up with a better plan."

"Isn't the duty of Huntsmen and Huntresses to keep the Creatures of Grimm in check?" asked Amy. After a chorus of agreements from the Beacon Students, the pink Hedgehog continued to talk. "Seems to me that a mission into those parts wouldn't really be out of place."

"You're certainly right about that… But the teachers would never let us first-year students go to a place that dangerous without a Huntsman." Weiss pointed out.

Yang grinned and crossed her arms in a triumphant pose. "I think Ruby and I can arrange that."

* * *

_Beacon Academy, Team RWBY's room  
_ _9:30 a.m._

"Let me get this straight… you want me to do _what_?"

"Uncle Qrow, come on! We know where Eggman and Torchwick is!" exclaimed Ruby. The young Huntress paced back and forth excitedly as she told Qrow about the secret location. The rest of Team RWBY was with her, as well as Sonic and Tails. "We could end this right now!"

The older Huntsman leaned forward in his chair. "You do realize that you're still only first-year students, right? You're not ready for this. You guys, though…" He glanced at the Mobian Hedgehog and Fox. "You may have fought him on your home turf, but you're on a different world with different rules. Do you honestly think that you can fight him in a full-scale battle without causing widespread panic?"

Sonic thought back to his past adventures. "Eggman's always been the one to cause a panic, but there was that time when everyone thought I was Shadow and arrested me. That did shock the world for a while."

"Wait, how did they mistake you for that emo Hedgehog?"

The Blue Blur shrugged. "To this day, I still don't have an answer to that. It's one of life's great mysteries."

Qrow chuckled a bit before continuing his tangent. "So Eggman's always been the first to declare his plans to the public before you step in," he summarized. "That's not gonna fly with Ozpin."

"Statistically speaking, we have a better chance of catching him off guard now than later." Tails reasoned. "In theory, an attack now after losing his base in Forever Fall will be very effective against him."

"Not to mention that the Atlesian army really did a number against his forces," added Weiss.

"Oh yeah? What about Torchwick? What about the White Fang?" Qrow countered. "If I recall, they covered Eggman's retreat from _Forever Fall_ , and they're definitely no pushovers."

"But that's why we need to finish this!" Blake exclaimed hotly. "If they continue to work together, Vale is still in danger!"

"Not just the Kingdom, the entire world," added Sonic. "Eggface won't just stop after Vale is conquered."

"Or he'll lose control of _Dralux's_ energy and end up destroying everything. That possibility is not unreasonable." said Tails, remembering the whole _Perfect Chaos incident_.

"Either way, sitting on this information about where he is right now doesn't seem right to me," said Yang. "Uncle Qrow, Huntsmen and Huntresses are needed to keep the Grimm down around Mountain Glenn anyways, If we went with you-"

"Then our enemies will no doubt recognize you and the Mobians and will act." Qrow lifted his flask to take a sip, but only a few drops of liquid came out. "Damn, need to get a refill. At any rate, you're not ready for something of this scale. And Sonic, you and your friends are too visible. You'll never get close to the base without making some kind of alert."

"So what do you propose we do?" Weiss demanded. "We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"You can and you will," the Huntsman sighed softly. "I need you all ready to protect the citizens when it hits the fan. It's not the most exciting part of being a Huntress, but not everything is about adventure and killing Grimm.

"Oh don't worry about nothing being done about Eggman, Torchwick, or their allies," he said as he got up from his chair. "In fact, after I tell Ozpin what you told me, I'll be heading out again."

Qrow gave them an evil smirk. "Seems that Doctor Eggman doesn't know about Qrow Branwen, and it'd be such a shame if I didn't get back at him for attacking my nieces."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's the end of the original author's story-telling, now I want to give it a shot.
> 
> But I also want to hear ideas from yous as well for possible future story arcs throughout this fanfic, can't wait to hearing from yous.
> 
> This is Pyro the Elemental, sign out.


	66. Where is 'home'?

_Beacon Academy, Mobians dorm_

_1:30 p.m._

Everyone was glad that they have all seven _Chaos Emeralds_ in their possession and not Eggman's, especially Knuckles and Shadow.

"So... should we see if the Emeralds can take us back home?" the red Echidna hesitantly asks.

"I won't say now, not until we have the Doctor behind bars." Shadow adviced with caution. As much as he wants to get back to Mobius once again, he can't afford to leave Remnant with Robotnik on the loose.

"Okay," said Sonic, "then why don't we try turns the _Chaos Emeralds_ into the _Super Emeralds_? We've done it a few times in the past, right?"

"Yeah, by using the _Master Emerald_ within its vicinity. I don't know if it CAN be possible to transform them without the _Master Emerald_." Knuckles states, unsure of himself that the _Super Emeralds ritual_ can even work without the _Master Emerald._

"POSSIBILITY OF _CHAOS EMERALDS_ TRANSFORMATION BEING SUCCESSFUL WITHOUT _MASTER EMERALD_ SUPPORT IS 46.7%," Omega calculated. "15% OF THE TRANSFORMATION RITUAL BACKFIRING. AND 48.3% OF THE RITUAL BEING UNSUCCESSFUL."

"Not helping, Omega." Rouge hissed at the walking arsenal.

"Hey, guys," Silver interrupted, "If Knuckles can't do the ritual himself, why don't Sonic and Shadow assist him?" This court everyone off guard as they never thought of it this way. Knuckles' link to the _Master Emerald_ is limited while on Remnant but it's manageable; Shadow's connection to the _Chaos Force_ is still powerful with the _Chaos Emeralds_ currently with them; with Sonic on the other hand has the most experience with the Emeralds since he was the first Mobian in history to ascend to a _Super State_ and even further.

"You know, Silver, that could actually work." Knuckles grinned, "With me doing it by my self it'll go one of three ways that Omega stated, but with two others, I'm guessing the chances of the transformation ritual being success have rising, right Omega?" the red Echidna asks.

"CORRECT. THEY HAVE RISING TO 75.9% OF SUCCEEDING. THE OTHER PERCENTAGE IS OF IT SOMEHOW BACKFIRING."

"Well, what are we waiting for," Sonic impatiently but excitedly rushed, "lets try it out!" as the blue blur speeds out the dorm with the others following after him.

* * *

_Team RWBY's dorm_

_1:35 p.m._

The members of Team RWBY were uncharacteristically quiet for sometime now since the Mobians now have all seven _Chaos Emeralds_ and have possible plans to return back to the home planet, Mobius. But Ruby doesn't want them to leave.

"Okay, that's it." Weiss declared, "As much as I enjoy this silence, its also rather unsettling. We need to talk about our friends eventual return to their home." Blake agrees with the ice queens suggestion, saying it will happen eventually.

"You guys are right," Yang confirms, "honestly, I'd thought that their Emerald Hunt would last longer than I though."

"It's not fair." Ruby slightly sobbed. "I don't want them to leave." the others looked at each other with a similar feeling to their crimsonette's sadness. Yang climbed up to her sisters bunk-bed and comfort her.

"Sis, you know it will happen, right? I don't want them to leave too, no one don't because of the impact that they caused upon all are life's." Ruby's sobbing calmed down as her blonde sister reassures her. That is until they see a flash of light coming from outside.

Weiss and Blake investigate by looking through the window, see the Mobians with _Chaos Emeralds_. Three of them, Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles, form a triangle-like formation with the Emeralds in a circle in between the three. The other Mobians were standing away from the small group.

"Uh... I don't want to be that person, but I thing their leaving." Weiss announced, as she finished Ruby was gone leaving a trail of rose petals behind.

* * *

_Beacon's courtyard_

_1:40 p.m._

_"The servers of the seven Chaos, Chaos is power, Power enriched by the heart, The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. "_ Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles chanted until the red Echidna started the request.

"Oh _Master Emerald,_ grant the _Chaos Emeralds_ their full power so we can return home." The individual lights of the Emeralds turned bright white as they slowly grow in size.

The other Mobians, minus Omega, had to cover their eyes as the light grow brighter and brighter. But no one noticed Ruby charging in at her _Semblance's_ top speed, calling out to them to not leave.

The light started to dimmer down as the transformation ritual is completed. With the seven _Chaos Emeralds_ now tripled in size. The Mobians succeeded, they ascended the Emeralds into the seven _Super Emeralds_.

Ruby tackled Sonic to the ground, crying and shouting at him: "DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE, AT LEAST NOT YET!"

The blue Hedgehog was catched completely off guard by the youngest Huntress' emotional outburst. "R-ruby, calm down, where no-" before he could finish they hear two groans that didn't belonged to any other Mobians or the rest of Teams RWBY, JNPR, Glynda, or Ozpin that arrived on to the scene, requesting to know what is happening.

Instead, they see two more Mobians, both Hedgehogs but have different looks compared to the other four Mobian Hedgehogs.

One was red with double-jointed triangles on his chest and a marking behind his left eye, almost like a 'j' symbol. The quills are a mixture to Sonic's and Shadow's style with the upper-middle one hanging above his head and grey markings along the outside quills. His white cloves have grey cuffs with spike on underside of them, and his footwear were black with triangular detailing with a similar spike behind the ankle-cuff.

The other has a blueish-white body colour with white cloves along with red and blue sneaker design. His quills somewhat resembles Shadow's but were all pointing upwards.

The Mobians recognise both of these Hedgehogs, they are two of the five _Chaos Entities_.


	67. Engagement of the Chaos Gods

_Beacon Academy's courtyard_

_1:50 p.m._

The Mobian and Human heroes were in shock seeing not only two more Mobians arrive on Remnant, but that they are, literally, _Chaos Gods_.

There are five _Chaos Gods_ that each have a role to play in watching over the _Chaos Emeralds_ and the _Master Emerald,_ respectively. Beings such as Chaos, Tikal the Echidna, and Enerjak are three of the _Chaos Entities._

The red Hedgehog stands up first to view his surrounds, seeing green grass, some castle-looking building, and a mixture of recognisable and unfamiliar faces. "Ah, Sonic, it's being some time, hasn't it?" the unknown figure asks to the blue Hedgehog, who strangely knows him.

"Long time, no see, _Bedlam_!" Sonic announces with a smile. The Humans, Faunus, Rouge and Omega looked confused as to how this 'Bedlam' knows Sonic.

"Apologies to interrupt," Professor Goodwitch intervened, "but who are you, exactly?"

"I am the Moderator of the _Chaos Emeralds_ , but for the sake of names you can call me, Bedlam the Hedgehog."

This time, Ozpin introduced himself and welcomes the red Hedgehog to Remnant and Beacon Academy. The Mobians explained to Rouge, Omega, as well as Teams RWBY and JNPR about Bedlam and their little history with him.

"Okay, so now we know who you are," Blake stated, "but what about the other one?" Once she finished, everyone turned their heads as they see the whitish-blue Hedgehog slowly standing up while laughing maniacally.

"FINALLY!" the whitish-blue Hedgehog screamed out in dark joy, "Out of that realm and away from those idiots Tikal and Chaos. Though I'll probably miss Enerjak, he was the most tolerable out of everyone there." 

"Who is this one? A friend yours?" Weiss asks with concern as her left hand slowly reaches to her weapon.

"Worse, an enemy!" Bedlam responds with anger. "Why are here, _Nazo_?" The whitish-blue Hedgehog, now known as Nazo, looks at _Chaos Emeralds'_ Moderator with rage, and rage even grew as he also saw Sonic and Shadow, remembering his defeat by their hands many years ago.

"Oh, you made it too, Bedlam, I was hoping that you didn't survive the journey, but no matter." Nazo then explains his reasons for being on Remnant was to grow stronger than ever before, and to destroy Sonic and Shadow for destroying him many years ago.

Those reasons were more than enough to label the dark _Chaos God_ as an enemy to Remnant by the Huntsmen and Huntress', pulling their weapons on the whitish-blue Hedgehog, even the Mobians did the same.

Nazo simply chuckled at the Humans attempt to fight him with weapons, to him the only threats are the Mobians (especially if they have the _Chaos Emeralds_ with them) and Bedlam.

"Shadow, you and I both know what to do." Sonic suggested, the black Hedgehog grunted at what his rival was thinking.

"Alright, lets do it." Shadow said as the seven _Super Emeralds_ hovered around him and Sonic. A bright light blinded everyone around the blue and black Hedgehogs as they both said two words: "Chaos... Fusion!"

The light died down as everyone regained their sight, they see a blue Hedgehog with red stripes along his quills, forearms, legs, and across the eyes. His upper body held a mixture of Sonic's bald-patch and Shadow's chest-fur. His attire consisted on white cloves with golden rings around the wrist, and his shoes appeared similar to Shadow's but have Sonic's sneaker pattern along it. "Alright," the Mobian-looking figure spoke with a mixture of Sonic's cocky attitude and Shadow's serious personality, "it's been too long Nazo. How long has it been since I disintegrated you."

Nazo's green eyes stared with fury at _his_ red ones, "Long enough, _Shadic_!" _'I'm seriously outmatched,'_ the whitish-blue Hedgehog thought, _'going toe-to-toe with one of them is a pain, but two! I need to retreat.'_ "But fortunately, it won't be happening anytime soon... fair well, Shadic and Bedlam, until we meet again." he was finishing with maniac laugh and disappearing with _Chaos Control_.

Shadic's smile faded as he closed his eyes and using his Chaos energy to disappear in a small flash of light, separating back into Sonic and Shadow. "Hehe, we showed him." the blue Hedgehog chuckled.

The Humans and Mobians, now with the _Super Emeralds_ in their hands, looked at all two Hedgehogs in shock due to them never seeing two beings becoming one. Jaune was the first to brake the silence, "C-can someone explain to us what just happened?!"


	68. Explanations Exceptions

_Beacon Academy, Ozpin's office_

_2:45 p.m._

The Humans and Mobians were with Professor Ozpin's office as said Professor was sitting behind his desk with Glynda Goodwitch standing to his left with arms cross and disapproving scowl. "All right, let's start from the beginning as to how two more Mobians arrived here." the Headmaster announces.

Shadow designated himself to explain, starting with the 'should we return to Mobius' question the Mobians wondered, but voted to not leave Robotnik on their world to rule; moving the subject to transforming the _Chaos Emeralds_ into _Super Emeralds_ through a ritual Knuckles discovered some years ago after Nazo's first escape out of the _Chaos Emeralds_.

"After our first encounter with Nazo sometime after the _Black Arms crisis_ ," Knuckles explains, "I did some digging in _Angel Island's Hidden Palace_ and discovered some ancient text about the _Chaos Emeralds'_ super transformation with the _Master Emerald's_ assistance." the red Echidna delivers, "However, the text my people wrote state that it was a 'wild theory' and it was never tested."

"And now we know that it's possible." Tails said as he pulls out the yellow _Super Emerald,_ confirming the ancient Echidna's hypothesis.

"Indeed," Glynda agrees, "however, how does Bedlam come in with his connection to your emeralds?"

The red Hedgehog answers, "I came to meet most of these Mobians due to their abuse and overuse of the Chaos Emeralds throughout the years." Bedlam mentions, "My goals were to kill the two who abused the Emeralds the most, those being Doctor Ivo Robotnik, otherwise known as Eggman, and the other being Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog, or as everyone calls him Sonic the Hedgehog."

Everyone within the room were shocked by the news of Bedlam's past intentions, and even more shocked that Sonic's real name is 'Ogilvie Maurice'.

The blue Hedgehog groaned in embarrassment that the _Chaos Emeralds'_ Moderator revealed his birth name. Of course Tails, Amy, and Knuckles knew of the blue blurs true identity, but they earned it through years of trust and loyalty or just by overhearing it.

For someone like Bedlam to reveal Sonic's identity to others like Ozpin, Ruby and Jaune who he only trusted for several months now, to his friends Shadow, Silver and Blaze who fought alongside him for some years, it's frustrating. "Wait, so Sonic isn't your real name?" Ruby asks with curiosity.

"I like to think of it as my real name, because having a name like 'Ogilvie Maurice' isn't catchy to leave in the bad guys mouth to hate." the blue Hedgehog states.

"And when were you going to tell us this?" Shadow asks with little fury.

"At some point or another, the only people that knew it are within this room are Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Various members of the _Freedom Fighters_ back home know of my true name too."

"Moving back on topic," Bedlam impatiently calls out, catching everyone's attention, "once I announced my targers identities, Sonic, Shadow, Silver and Knuckles engaged me in combat. I won but I gave them a chance to prove themselves worthy of the _Chaos Emeralds_ by giving them one week to prepare. Once the week was up, we fought once again. Sonic used enough contained Chaos Energy to achieve is most used form, _Super Sonic_ , while I abused the Emeralds for myself to transform into _Frantic Bedlam_ ; and I lost due to Sonic's friends encouraging him and knocking the _Chaos Emeralds_ and my _Frantic_ form out of me as using them against me, utilising a form even greater than his _Super State_ , the _Hyper Form_. After my loss, the title of 'Moderator' was handed down to Sonic, making him the next _Moderator of the Chaos Emeralds_ and the _Chaos Gods._ "

"However," this time Sonic started talking, "we agreed to share the title of Moderator, he overwatchs the Emeralds within their domain while I tried to safeguard them on the ground."

The professor's and student huntsmen were surprised that someone like Sonic turned down the offer to be a divine being, but they understand why based off the blue Hedgehog's personality and drive.

"Oh, by the way, Sonic," the Moderator God remembered, "before my arrival with Nazo, Tikal informed me that the seven _Super Emeralds'_ power won't be enough to return you all back to Mobius." The Mobians eyes widened in shock and disbelief that their attempt to return back home being unenviable.

"However, as I arrived here, I detected four sources of energy that equal a set of _Chaos Emeralds_ each." This give the Mobians some sense of hope in returning home. Ozpin tensed in hearing what Bedlam was sensing, "But I cannot locate them as they don't generate the _Chaos Force_ like the Emeralds." The grey-haired professor then relaxed at the red Hedgehogs lack of energy-sensing that's outside the _Chaos Force._

* * *

_Mountain Glenn_

_4:10 p.m._

A patrol of _White Fang_ grunts and Egg Pawns swarmed the long destroyed city for intruders and, hopeful, small _Creatures of Grimm_ to capture and use for the evil doctor's robot army. Speaking of said doctor, he's busy working on blueprints for a mech-design that could contain and utilise _Dralux's_ power without it backfiring.

"So... if I use previous mechs like the _Egg Dragoon_ and _Death Egg Robo_ designs as references, I can see were I can improve and go from there." Eggman muttered out loud as Orbot reworks Cubots voice chip.

"With all due respect, boss," Orbot voiced out, "why don't you build another _Metal Series_ of robots to assist you in combat?"

"Not a bad idea, Orbot," Robotnik comments, "although I'm not repairing that failure Metal Sonic just for him to betray me again!" he then growls.

"Then just modify and upgrade his coding to remove any kinks that you may have missed or didn't have time to remove." the red ball-like robot suggested, causing the evil genius to grin at the suggestion.

"That could work, though I'll have to delay the construction of the _Egg Grimm_ by a few days at least." He said out loud, unaware that a black bird was hearing him from afar with red eyes watching him.


	69. Of Dust and Chaos

_Beacon Academy's courtyard_

_5:55 p.m._

Sometime after the explanation of Nazo's and Bedlam's appearance on Remnant to Ozpin, the teenage hunters and Mobians were walking back to their respected dorms while still processing the facts that they've learnt.

The fact that the now powered-up _Chaos Emeralds_ , known as _Super_ _Emeralds_ , aren't enough to transport the Mobians to return to their home. And to make things worse, Nazo has come to destroy Remnant for ultimate.

However, not all hope is lost as there are four unknown items that could assist in the Mobians return home; the question is where are they?

Ruby ponders on how she and her friends could of use to combating enemies that utilise Chaos energy. "Hey, Sonic," she spoke, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing," Sonic replies, "what's on your mind?" he questions the young girl.

"I just thought that, if we were to fight against someone like this Nazo guy or another robot without our weapons. So..." she slowly asks, "can you teach us how to use Chaos energy?"

The blue Hedgehog was surprised by the crimsonette's request, responding with, "I'll have to run it with the Knux and Shads to give you an answer. But if we teach you how to utilise the _Chaos Force_ , you'll have to teach us how to use _Dust_. Deal?" he offers.

"I'll ask Weiss if it's possible, but yeah, deal." she agrees as both parties shake hands and walk back to their dorms.

* * *

_Mobians' Dorm_

_6:15 p.m._

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Shadow shouted, "I am NOT teaching some Overlanders to use Chaos energy for themselves." he declared.

"Why not? I mean, you tort some G.U.N. agents how to, so this will be no different." Sonic suggested.

"True," Rouge intervened, "but they had prior experience with dealing with the Emeralds threwout their time. But these kids, I don't think that they'll survive." She states.

"But our world's Humans and this one's have one difference," Tails explains, "Remnant's humans can manifest their life-force into a protective shield, therefore in theory, the only damage being do is their Aura. Theoretically speaking." the two-tailed Fox said as he rubs the back of his head.

"I'm in." Knuckles admits, "if what Tails predicts is possible, then I'm will to take a risk like this." Sonic smiles at the red Echidna's choice.

Rouge and Omega look at the black Hedgehog in hope's of him agreeing to train Teams RWBY and JNPR in utilising Chaos energy, to which, he does with some minor hesitation. After Shadow revealed his answer, Sonic reached from his Scroll to message Ruby.

_Sonic: OK, Shadow and Knuckles have agreed to teach you guys._

_Ruby: Great, Weiss will help with you guys with_ Dust _adaptation, although we probably have to have some extra help._

_Sonic: That's fine, but the sooner the better for everyone._

* * *

_Team RWBY's dorm_

_Same time_

"REALLY?!" the Schnee heiress screamed out in annoyance, "What may you believe that you, of all people, can teach others to learn how to utilise Dust to non-Human beings!?"

"To be far, I did ask you first," the crimsonette states, "didn't I?"

"She's got a point." Blake mentions with Yang agreeing with her.

"Dispite their biology being completely different to any human or Faunus," Weiss points out, "I'd rather not endanger my friends."

"If I my?" the cat Faunus requests with Ruby nodding in approval, "When Sun and Neptune returned from their mission with Knuckles and Team Dark, you know, when they hidden Eggman's base." She reminds everyone within the room, "Well, my senses smelt small traces of _Dust_ on Rouge and Shadow when they returned. That being said, in theory the Mobians could utilise _Dust_ just like us."

After Blake's input, Ren said "You may have a point there, but the negatives outweigh the positives. We need some with more experience on _Dust_." the heiress felt offended by JNPR's resident ninja while Jaune buts in.

"Don't feel bad, Weiss, I mean, your great with Dust yourself but, not to doubt your skills, but I think we need someone with more experience on _Dust_ experimentation." he finishes while somewhat avoid Weiss' anger frown she has on both males of Team JNPR. However, she admits that learning _Dust_ is more she speed that teaching it to others.

Once everyone's decision was final, Ruby felt her Scroll vibrate and see's a text from Sonic, revealing:

_Sonic: OK, Shadow and Knuckles have agreed to teach you guys._

_Ruby: Great, Weiss will help with you guys with_ Dust _adaptation, although we probably have to have some extra help._

_Sonic: That's fine, but the sooner the better for everyone._

* * *

_Beacon's combat arena_

_10:45 a.m., the next day_

The members of Teams RWBY and JNPR were in their usual clothing/armour, stand within the combat area's ring with Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Silver and Bedlam stand the opposite to them with all seven _Super Emeralds_ in their hands.

Sonic held on to the blue one under his arm. Shadow holds the green and yellow with his hands. Knuckles has the red gem in both hands. Silver has the white and cyan blue Emeralds levitating due to his Psychokinesis. And Bedlam has the last, purple, _Super Emerald_ in his hand.

Each Mobian had their own personal experience and understand of the Emeralds: Sonic and Silver are the less experienced with the white Hedgehog having barely much contact. Shadow and Knuckles are the most experienced due to their inheritance and exposure to the _Chaos Force_. As for Bedlam, he's a literal _Chaos God_ , capable of wiping everyone across the floor when being serious.

The black Hedgehog was the first to speak to grab everyone's attention as he places the green and yellow _Super Emeralds_ in front of both teams, RWBY have the green _Super Emerald_ while JNPR get the yellow one, "Alright, let's get started!"


	70. Chaos Training (part 1)

_Beacon's combat arena_   
_10:50 a.m._

The young hunters of RWBY and JNPR starred between the _Super Emerald_ that their leaders have in their hands- with Ruby's team having the green one were as Jaune's team has the yellow one -and Shadow the Hedgehog with some confusion. "Why did you give us one for each team?" questioned Weiss.

"First off," the red Hedgehog, Bedlam, responded, "you humans aren't the only ones learning how to use them either." he mentioned as he points towards Sonic and Silver. "Those two will be joining as well."

The blue and white Hedgehogs both smilied and waved at everyone. "How so, I thought they would be training us?" Blake asked out of curosity.

"Unfornately no," answered Tails, who is typing on his _Miles Electric_ , "Knuckles, Shadow, and Bedlam are the teachers. Giving that they have the better understanding of utilising the _Chaos Force_ due to their history and backgrounds with it." he stops typing and looks up the the hunter trainees, "Sonic has some experiences but he's not a frequent user of it, where as Silver doesn't have _Chaos Emeralds_ in his future therefore he has as much exposure to them as much as you guys."

"Enough with the chit-chat," announced the black Hedgehog himself, "first lesson is to perform _Chaos Control_. From where you're standing to the other end of the room." He said as he displays a demonstration by grabbing the white Super Emerald Silver was levitating. "Chaos... CONTROL!" Shadow shouts as he disappears and reappears behind the students, who were baffled on where the ultimate lifeform had gone.

Blake's cat ears' twitched underneath her bow as she knows that the black Hedgehog is behind them, she announces his presence as the young hunters turn around to see... nothing? Blake could have sworn he was behind them. "Looking for me?" the black and red Mobian questioned with a grin of his face and standing back in the same place he first teleported from, "I have to say, Blake, your senses are sharper than I thought." he complamented to RWBY's ninja as she thanked him for noticing.

"How did you do that?" demanded Nora, wanting to teleport around the academy grounds, which is a dangerous idea to someone like Ren who's known her since childhood.

"In order to understand," lectured Knuckles, "all you have to do is hold onto the Emerald tightly and think to the location you want to go. For this instance, from where your standing to the opposites site of the room. Ruby and Jaune, your up first." the red Echidna stated.

Both leaders of their teams were nervous as hell, going through several hundred situations of how it wouldn't work, unsure if it could work. Their bodies were shaken and sweating tremendously; fortunately their teammates were there to calm them, reassure them, and encourage them. Both the red reaper and the white knight shouted "Chaos CONTROL!" and disappeared and reappeared outside onto Beacon's courtyard, and surrounded by several students with confused and shocked faces, even amongs themselves. Ruby and Jaune shouted _Chaos Control_ once again and disappeared from the bewilded transfer students and back into the combat arena.

"Where were you two!?" screamed Shadow as his body was slowly glowing red.

The blonde knight whimpered at the black and red Mobian's aggressive questioning "We, uh, teleported outside..." he answered, using the _Super Emerald_ in his hands to protect himself.

"Calm down Shads," said Sonic, catching his rival's attention, "don't be so hard on them, after all it's their first time." he mentioned at the ultimate lifeform's red aura slowly disappear, knowing better to congratulate them rather than punish them. "So... how was it?" the Blue Blur asked with excitement.

"Well, uh, it was, uh, I don't even any how to describe it." admitted the scythe wielder, with her first-friend agreeing with her.

"It's okay," reassured the blue Hedgehog, "I know how you feel, trust me, I've done it a few times and even with a fake _Chaos Emerald_ during my first time." he said as memories of him escaping an exploding capsule with the fake Emerald Tails give to him during the _Space Colony ARK's_ showdown.

"Alright then," claimed Bedlam, "Who's next?" 

Two hours have pasted and the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR have all attempted _Chaos Control's_ teleportation ability, with some fairing better than others. Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha and Ren adapted to it faster than Weiss, Yang, Jaune and Nora. However, they have yet perform the time manipulation technique of _Chaos Control_.

"Okay, were going to take a break," announced Silver as he looked at the clock within the combat arena, "we've been at it for two hours now and I'm starting to get hungry." his stomach started groaning to prove his point.

"I will admit that I'm starting to feel hungry myself." admitted the Chaos Emerald's moderator, "I am curious as to what the food on this planet is like compaired to our own world's."

"OH MY OUM! You have GOT to try the pancakes! They are heavenly!" cheered the hammer wielder as she charges towards the red Hedgehog and holding him into a bear hug.

"Is she always like this?" Bedlam asked as he slowly losses his breath from the hug, earning several confirmations about Nora's behaviour. The hyper-active gingers' partner requested her to let him go before he decises to blow himself up through _Chaos Blast_ , and she does. The Chaos Detity coughed for oxygen but maintained his composure towards Nora, only giving her a death glare as a warning.


	71. Chaos Training (part 2)

_Beacon's dining hall_   
_1:45 p.m._

While the hunter trainee's ate their foods of choices with the Mobians, with Bedlam deeply enjoying some of Beacon Academy's delicacies since he's being trapped with his fellow detities such as Chaos and Tikal within the _Chaos Force_.

Blake was wondering why they were being tort _Chaos Control_ instead on the other Chaos powers such as _Chaos Spear_ or _Chaos Blast_. "Isn't it strange how Shadow is only teaching us how to teleport from one place to another in short distances?" the Faunus asked to her friends, "It seems kinda redundent in a practial sense, were as his other abilities seem more suitable in combat."

"I'm sure he'll tell us eventully." Ruby encouraged.

"Agreed, we're new to learning this stuff," stated Ren, "I believe the reason behind the lesson was to adapt to using Chaos energy, and keep a close eye on use while using it."

"Yeah, Ruby and I were just lucky enough to survive our first attempt." mentioned Jaune, being somewhat embarressed by his first time performing the the technique.

"But, he did get better, so that's a plus."

"I hope your right." Weiss said with uncertainty as she can overhears Shadow, Knuckles and Bedlam discussing amongest themselves.

As the teachers of the Chaos Force talked. Sonic, Tails, and Silver were eating next to Teams RWBY and JNPR

"Are you sure you want them to do the other half of _Chaos Control_?" the red Echidna shakenly asked, "Manipulating space is one thing, but performing the-

"Don't worry, guardian," Bedlam interrupted, attempting the calm Knuckles down, "Shadow and I will fix anything if something goods wrong."

The last Guardian of the Master Emerald questioned the Chaos God and the Ultimate Lifeform again to confirm on their promise. Bedlam reassures him, while Shadow grunted in acknowledgement. 

* * *

_Beacon's combat arena_   
_2:25 p.m._

Once everyone had their fill in from the dining hall, the young hunters received their _Super Emeralds_ back. However, Blake's curiosity reached her breaking point and she how to know why are they being tort a such a ineffective combat technique. Shadow was somewhat insulted by how Chaos Control was deemed a 'ineffective combat technique' 

"I'm glad you asked Blake," smilied Knuckles, "While Chaos Control can be an unuseful combat trick under certain circumstances, but it's also utilise's a number of different Chaos abilities."

"These powers range from _Chaos Magic_ , _Roaming Chaos_ , _Shadow Heal_ , and _Shadow Dash_. I can even infuse _Chaos Control_ into other techniques like _Chaos Spear_." Shadow performed several demonstration of Chaos Control related attacks, using Silver as a 'willing' voluntary at demonstrate each technique.

Starting with _Chaos Magic_ : Shadow snapped his fingers, invoking _Chaos Control_. Creating an area of distorted space in front of the black Hedgehog in the form of a violet, purple and white spacial rift that knocks the white Hedgehog into the air.  
Next up was _Roaming Chaos_ : The Ultimate Lifeform invoked _Chaos Control_ again, creating a spot of distorted space in the shape of a purple and white orb, before throwing the orb away in a horizontal swing. The orb of distorted space then floated in midair and tried to get back to the person who threw it until either Silver makes contact with it, which will knock him into midair again, or shadow performs _Roaming Chaos_ again, thus neutralizing the first orb.

Shadow didn't needed Silver for the next parts, which the white Hedgehog sighed in relief that he isn't a punching bag anymore. Jaune helped him along the way, knowing the same feeling he had a few months ago. "Don't worry, I know your pain." the blonde leader emphasised.

"I-it's alright," stated the telekinetic Mobian as he struggles to maintain his footing, "I've dealt with worse in the future."

Following that, Shadow performed the last two abilities, _Shadow Dash_ and _Shadow Heal_. When he was performing the _Shadow Dash_ , he utilised his Air Shoes to launch himself forward with a quick dash at high speed. While dashing, Shadow then used _Chaos Control_ to warp himself forward across space, before appearing again at a certain distance ahead of where the warp began, while still retaining a bit of momentum, enough for him to continue moving from it without him braking. Although he purposily harmed himself in the process for the final technique.  
Lastly was _Shadow Heal_ : When the black Hedgehog stood firmly in one spot, he closed his eyes. Shadow then used _Chaos Control_ , using it to power a procedure that heals any physical damage he may have received.

The hunter trainees were at awe with the techniques the Ultimate Lifeform demonstrated, dispite the fact he used Silver as target practice in order for him to use said techniques, they still enjoyed the performance. Blake now realised how used _Chaos Control_ can be, from dashing towards their oppoents instantly to healing bodily injuries if _Aura_ was depleted, even to ambush his or her opponent in combat. She underestimated it's capables.

"Now with that demonstration out of the way," announced Bedlam, "How about we get back on course with teaching _Chaos Control's_ second function: Time Manipulation."


	72. Chaos Training (part 3)

_Beacon's combat arena_   
_2:35 p.m._

The members of Teams RWBY and JNPR were shocked at what Bedlam the Hedgehog proposed to them. Time manipulation? It sounded impossible to believe, especially for the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company as she's studied every mixtures and combinations of _Dust_ prior to attending Beacon Academy. Ruby, Jaune and Nora were overjoyed with wanting to controlling time. Yang grinned at the numerous opportunities of potential pranks and jokes upon various students, more so on Cardin Winchester. Ren and Blake wondered with how an unknown, yet unlimited, powerful energy can manipulate not only space, but time as will. Lastly, Pyrrha's thoughts on _Chaos Control_ were overwhelmed on if criminals such as Roman Torchwick or, Oum forbid, the Grimm, had these _Chaos Emeralds_ in their opposention and learned how to utilise it? She didn't want to dread on the thought any longer.

"Okay," said Shadow, "same people in the same order, Ruby and Jaune are up first." Both the leaders of their hunter teams gripped onto their respective _Super Emerald_ , but the black Hedgehog stopped them before proceeding, "However, there's a difference for this one. Instead of thinking _where_ you want to go, think of _when_ to stop and for how long, try stopping time for five minutes." he adviced.

The scythe wielder and the blonde knight nodded in understanding as they focused on stopping time for a few minutes, "Chaos CONTROL!" they shouted with their eyes closed. They opened them and to only see that no one was moving.

Jaune was surprised by this as he walks towards Nora, who was standing next to Ren with hands behind her back and is eyeing him. The leader of Team JNPR waved his hand infront of the hyper-active ginger to see any responce, but got nothing. He then looked towards his girlfriend, Pyrrha, with a loving glare in his eyes.

Meanwhile with Ruby, she stood at awe at how awesome this would've been if this was her _Semblance_ instead of the one she has, but then realised how boring it would have been in the long run. The crimsonette walked to her team with Weiss and Blake glaring at where her and Jaune stood before invoking _Chaos Control's_ time-stop ability, while her sister, Yang, held her hips with interest.

Both waited for effects of _Chaos Control_ to wear off and as it does, time restored itself to normal. "So... did it work?" Yang hestiately asked.

"Yang!" RWBY's leader cried out in shock, "Yeah, yeah it worked."

"What was it like?" inquisitioned Weiss and Blake with curiosity.

Both leaders explained to their teammates of their experince of stopping time; once they finished, they handed the Emeralds to Weiss and Nora. As everyone went through the experince several times with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren being more adapt to it. With Ruby viewing it like an evolved version of her Semblance. Weiss is able to utilise it by treating it like her _Time Dilation glyphs_ that her sister tort her after the Moon Mission was acomplished. Blake and Ren seemed to be the more focused ones when they attempted the time manipulation techniques during their second and third tries. Pyrrha's turns seemed adept to using it, but internally refuse to rely it like the others around her.

While Yang, Nora, and Jaune were able to manage it with some level of difficulty. Yang and Nora can attempt it, but lack a long enough attention-span to stay in one place. And Jaune seemed unsure by using it, seeing like it was cheating in a way, but he'll learn when on the battlefield there is no such thing as 'cheating'.

"Okay, now that you've now understand and experinced the usage of _Chaos Control_ ," announced Knuckles while Silver collected the _Super Emeralds_ with his _Psychokinesis_ , "We're going into the the more dangerous parts of using Chaos energy. We are going to teach you how to use Chaos attacks."

"But before we do that," intercepted the Ultimate Lifeform, "I want all of you's to engage me with what you've been tort. To make this fair, I'll have one of the Emeralds," everyone thought how was that considered 'fair' to the black Hedgehog, "while the rest of you have the other six." Now that seemed better to the young hunters.

"How? The _Super Emeralds_ to big to fit into any of our persons." mentioned the cat Faunus. Seeing now that that's a problem, Shadow asked Knuckles if the _Super Emeralds_ can be de-powered back into _Chaos Emeralds_ , to which, they can as the red Echidna performed a chant and the oversized gems shrink back to their normal size. Everyone was appreciated by the last guardians action as they put a _Chaos Emerald_ within a pocket or pouch.

Everyone grabbed a _Chaos Emerald_ each, with Shadow collecting his green one. Team RWBY held the red, white, and purple Emeralds' -with Ruby having the red one, Weiss with the white, and Blake using the purple, and Yang doesn't get one due to her friends and sister not trusting her. While Team JNPR grabbed the yellow, cyan, and blue mystical gems -Jaune holding the blue, Pyrrha having the yellow, and Ren collecting the cyan one, and Nora doesn't have an Emerald and Ren not trusting her with one.

Shadow walks onto the combat platform in bewteen both first-year Huntsmen and Huntress', preparing himself by performing a martial arts stance, "So..." he smirks, "who wants to go first?"


	73. Shadow vs. RWBY and JNPR

_Beacon's combat arena_   
_2:55 p.m._

Knuckles and Silver wondered what Shadow was thinking, challenging the teenagers who were just tort how to use _Chaos Control_. Sonic and Bedlam weren't worried in the slightest, believing that this can be a good way to use what they learn in a certain situation. The blue Hedgehog pulled out his Scroll and contacted the others to come over to the combat arena, informing them of Teams RWBY and JNPR's test against Shadow.

As the other Mobians arrived -Amy, Rouge, Omega, and Blaze- they also brought Professor Goodwitch, since she is the teacher for Huntsman combat class', she acted as a overwatch if the fight goes wrong.

The members of Teams RWBY and JNPR collected their weapons, as did Shadow, thinking that if they try to overpower him that it might work.

"Tournament rules apply: Only way to win is by ring-out by _Aura_ -depletion. And I want it clean and fair, am I understood?" the hunters responded with a "Yes, Professor." while Shadow nodded.

The black Hedgehog stood in the middle of the arena while his opponents stand on the opposite ends to him, with Team RWBY from his left and Team JNPR to his right. _'This should be interesting.'_ he thought to himself.

Blake and Ren were the first to attack him by charging towards him, with JNPR's ninja firing _Stormflower._ The Ultimate Lifeform pulled _Crimson Dusk_ from his back and deflected the rounds with ease, somewhat shocking Ren. Shadow quickly turned around to be met by Blake's weapon, _Gambol Shroud's,_ impacting his weapon. During that time, Yang and Ruby propelled themselves at the Ultimate Hedgehog, still blocking the cat Faunus' blade until she disingauged as the Rose/Xiao Long sisters rushed him. Shadow enacted _Chaos Control_ at the last second as Yang's fist almost made contact with his face, stopping time for a few seconds to step backwards for avoiding the blonde brawlers strike. Time reshored itself as Yang's own momentum to send her flying towards Jaune, but was caught by Pyrrha's Semblance of Polarity, magnetising RWBY's brawler's guantlets, _Ember Celica_.

"Thank's for the save, P-money." said Yang.

"Not a problem. Jaune, are you okay?" she asked to her partner.

"I'm fine." he answered while being shakened by Yang's fist almost making contact with his shield.

Shadow smilied to himself, but was short-lived as Ruby used her scythe, _Crescent Rose_ , to trip up the Ultimate Lifeform. Knocked onto the ground, he heard someone scream. It sounded like Nora's, _'Oh no...'_ he thought as he looked up to see the hammer wielder in the air, about to bring the hammer down. Shadow teleported away from the Valkyrie's warcry before she made contact, creating a miniture smokescreen from the impact.

The Mobians' faces varied from fear to curiosity on what is going on within the smokescreen. Omega scanned through, detecting two lifesigns, but did not say a word to interrupted the tension. Rouge and Blaze heard some punches and metal make contact with one another from their highly sensitive ears, and the purple Cat assumed Blake was hearing the same even with a bow covering heritage. Amy and Silver couldn't hear or see anything within the cover of dust. Knuckles and Bedlam felt the usage of Chaos energy being used, most likely from Shadow, but they cannot confirm it. Sonic, on the other hand, knew what the black Hedgehog is up to, so he stood up and rushed towards the combat teacher.

No one moved when Nora Valkyrie almost destroyed the arena. The members of Teams RWBY and JNPR tried to eye Shadow and Nora within the cover of smoke, dust and bedris, but can't see anything or anyone. Professor Glynda was about to call the match, but was intercepted by Sonic to not do that. The Goodwitch was about ask why, until the smoke cleaned, revealing the Ultimate Lifeform hovering in the air with is Air Shoes, while holding Nora's body by her head with a broken _Aura_ sparken it's last. "Silver!" he calls out as he throws the barely conscious woman over to the white Hedgehog, who catches her with his telekinetic powers and carefully places her down. "Remember," he annouces to the young hunters, "use what you've learned to defeat me!"

Something clicked within Jaune's head, _Chaos Control_ , they have to use the _Chaos Emeralds_ in order to win against Shadow the Hedgehog. So he pulled his blue Emerald and teleported to Ruby's position with some difficultly, "Ruby! Use _Chaos Control_ to stop time." he commanded as both leaders froze time around them.

"So... what's the plan?" the scythe wielder asked.

"It's obvious," he mentions, causing the crimsonette to raise an eyebrow, "beat him at his own game. If three memebers of our teams use the teleporting technique to confuse him, the other three can strike him wih close-quarters tactics."

"Like 'hit-&-run' maneuvers?" she clarified, earning a nod from the blonde leader of JNPR. "Alright, I'll inform Yang to distact him. While we tell our friends about your plan." as she finished, they noticed that time is restoring to normal and they rushed towards their teammates. "Yang! I need you to distract him, Jaune and I have a plan!" she shouted.

"You got it!" the blonde brawler acknowledged, shooting herself towards Shadow, still floating in the air.

"Weiss, Blake!" she called out, " _Chaos Control_ yourselfs at Jaune's position!" she demand, with both heiress and Faunus teleport at the white knight's location, with Ren and Pyrrha with him.

"Okay, this is the plan, we'll split up into two teams. Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha: you three will use _Chaos Control's_ time manipulation to use hit-and-run tactics when he's open to attacks." the three nodded in understanding. "Ruby, Ren and I will be doing the same, but while teleporting."

"Are you sure?" asked the mage of Team RWBY, "doing that will require a lot of coordination and communication."

"True, but we'll also serve up as a detraction for him. we'll try to keep his foucs on us instead of yous." once he finished, everyone hears a crash to see Yang smashed into a wall with the last of her _Aura_ drained. Silver, once again, used his telekinesis to lift the Xiao Long out of the wall and placed her nexted to the unconscious Nora.

"I hope you six are prepared to fail!" Shadow threatened as he grabs _Crimson Dusk_ and transforms it into it's rifle form. Jaune, Ruby and Ren rushed him as he fires upon them, the blonde knight blocks the bullets with his shield while the crimsonette and lotus ninja run around the ultimate Hedgehog.

Meanwhile with the Schnee, Belladonna, and Nikos, they pulled their _Chaos Emeralds_ out and shouted "Chaos... CONTROL!" slowing down the environment. Blake dashed at Shadow and slashed at his back. Pyrrha used Miló's rifle form to target the black Hedgehogs joints, arms, and legs to knock him down. Finally, Weiss summoned a amber _glyph_ with a clock within it, when the glyph disappears she charges at her time-frozen opponent and striked him in numours places that were too fast for Blake and Pyrrha to even see.

Time started to restore itself once again as they see the ultimate lifeform quickly dropping to his knees in pain, clearly feeling the effects of Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha's attacks. However, not only was he down, he was absoulutely angry. Shadow slowly starts to stand up and removes the rings from his wrists. The Mobians' faces dropped into panic at what the ultimate Hedgehog is about to do. An aura of red energy exploded from Shadow's body with glowing white eyes, the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR were knocked back by the waves of energy Shadow was emiting.

"Guys, get out of there, NOW!" cried out the white Bat with worry. Sonic had already ran out with Professor Goodwitch in his arms. Maniacal laughter can be heard from the glowing red Hedgehog.

"He's going too far!" shouted Knuckles with concern as Shadow uttered two words.

"Chaos...!" he yelled with a slight pause, "BLAST!" the entire room went red as an explosion erupted as the whole academy felt it's affects.


	74. Ideas for the Future

_Forest of Forever Fall  
_ _3:00 p.m._

The crimson leafs blow through the forest as a group of beowolves wondered through, scouring across the treelines to see a whitish-blue being walking around wearing red and blue colours on his shoes with white gloves.

The Alpha Beowolf howled at his pack, ordering them to engage this strange creature, thinking to be some rare type of animal or, even better, a human that got lost. The young Grimm charged head-first, too excited to taste the smell of blood on their claws and the thrill of the kill. The small creatured turned his head to see who or what would attack him.

He jumped back as the closest black-furred animal leaped at the small person, who jumped away from the beowolf's attempt to slash him. The whitish-blue being landed on the ground and pointed his gloved hand towards the pack of Grimm who's still charging at him. With his raised hand he uttered two words, "Chaos Torrent." a beam of red energy erupted from his hand, obliterating the whole wave of Grimm in one strike.

The Alpha Beowolf was shocked at the destructive power this prey used on his kin, believing it be better to retreat and live to hunt another day, the small creature quickly appeared in front of the Alpha. The person formed a fist and he upper-cutted the once pack leader's head clean off it's body, which evapporated once it hit the ground.

"Pathetic..." the whitish-blue person said with disappointment, "...these are the Creatures of Grimm I've heard so much about. How underwelming." he continues to walk through the forest with no disregard of the damage he did to the environment when he destroyed the Beowolves. As he continues on his path, he sensed a large amount of Chaos energy being unleashed at the place he teleported away from. "Ah, seems like someone's letting off a bit of steam." he chuckles manically.

As he was too distracted on what he found amusing, he was unaware of something hitting him in his back, lead by a electric shock that send him unconscious. Before his vision was completely blackened, he saw several humanoids dressed in black and white with strange masks, hearing one of the call out, "Glenn Base, this is Patrol Four, we've captured one of those Mobian freaks. Over"

_"Glenn Base here Patrol Four, please repeat. Over?"_

"Copy Glenn Base, we have located and neutralised one of the Doctor's enemies. Over."

_"Is it still alive, Patrol Four?"_

"Affirmative, we used a shock dart to subdue it."

_"Good work, Patrol Four. Bring it in and we'll see what the Doctor has instore for it."_

"Copy that, Glenn Base, over and out."

* * *

 _Combat Arena  
_ _Same time_

The red energy faded away as Shadow the Hedgehog drops to the floor, out of breath and energy. Reaching for his inhibitor rings and placing them back onto his wrists, his awareness returns to him as he looks at the damage he has caused due to his anger-induced rage.

To say that a bomb went off is a understatement, there was barely anything that was incinerated or obliterated from his Chaos Blast. Except those who survived from first. A cyan blue sphere that contains unconscious Yang and Nora, with Blaze standing nexted to Silver, who's holding the shield up until he dropped it as it exhausted him.

Meanwhile, a giant dome of ice was on the opposite end of the classroom, began to shatter, revealing Weiss kneeing on the ground with her weapon, _Myrtenaster,_ stabbed into the ground. As well as Ruby, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Tails, Amy and Rouge. Sonic and Glynda, however, were hiding behind a barely standing pillar when the Ultimate Lifeform exploded.

The only people missing were Knuckles and Omega. Speaking of, a gloved fisted punched it's way out of the debris and the red Echidna emerged as he drags the walking arsenal out of the hole, both covered in bruises and dents, "Care to explain yourself?!" asked an annoyed Knuckles.

The black Hedgehog didn't say a word as he drops to his knees, not daring to face anyone, as he thinks deeply on what he narely caused. The doors burst open as Professor Ozpin, Professor Port, and Doctor Oobleck charge in to see what has happened. "Would someone care to explain what has transpired here?" asked the headmaster in a calm manner.

"Perhaps I can explain." offered Bedlam, who was levitating in the air with crossed arms. "You see, two of your hunter teams wanted to train in the ways of Chaos. Shadow offered them a test of their skills in what they've been tort. They won, but for some unknown reason, Shadow removed his inhibitor rings and unleashed a large Chaos Blast. Almost killing everyone." Once the Moderator of Chaos Emeralds finished explaining, everyone confirmed what Bedlam was saying was true.

Ozpin and Sonic walked towards the kneeling Shadow, wanting to understand why the black Hedgehog did what he did. "Shadow, buddy, you okay?" Sonic hesitantly asked, earning no responce. The Professor was about to ask his question, but the Ultimate Hedgehog used Chaos Snap to quickly teleport himself away, unknown to where he went.

"Hey Rouge," Ruby asked to the white Bat, "Has Shadow ever done anything like this before?" But before Rouge could answer, Sonic interrupts and answers for her.

"Yeah, he has. But only to those who made him get serious." the blue blur mentions, as memories of Enerjak-possessed Knuckles, Black Doom, and Scourge played through his mind when Shadow the Hedgehog got serious.

Ruby's facial expression morphed into sadness as to what made the black Hedgehog so angry that he'd resort to killing his friends.

* * *

_Dorm's Rooftop_   
_3:10 p.m._

Shadow sat on the curb of the roof, looking over the school grounds as he broods over his actions. _'What was I thinking?'_ he questions in his mind, _'this isn't like I'm fighting against Eclipse or Metallix, so why did I do that?'_

His thoughts were interrupted when someone tapped his shoulder, Shadow looks up to see Coco Adel, leader of Team CFVY, "'Sup edgey," she greets, "what are you doing up here?" the black Hedgehog looks back down as he gives no answer. "The view seems pretty nice, you could probably see the whole of Vale on a clear day." she said in hopes of cheering him up, with little success. Instead, she tried a different appoach, "I'm guessing your the one who caused the whole school to shake? I mean, if it was by accident-."

"No, it's not." he answered with sorrow, "I am the Ulitmate Lifeform. I was built to be perfect. I'm not supposed to fail, and yet I nearly killed several people I call 'friends and allies' due to my rage."

Coco sighs as she sits next to the brooding Mobian, "I feel your pain." which caught Shadow somewhat by surprise.

"What? When did you fail as badly as I have?" he asks.

"When I was on a mission, my team and I when to a village that was attacked by Grimm. We only found a small group of survivors in a mountain cave, a family of six. The cave the family were in was a Deathstalker's nest, the father of the family saved me from getting pierced in the leg, we then trapped it within the cave, but later we were surrounded by Urasi." she sudders at what she said next, "During the engagement, the father died by being eaten alive. Later on a Goliath charged onto the battlefield, the rest of the family thought it would be better to hide back in the cave, only..." Coco starts to tear up, "...only for the Goliath to crush the family, causing a complete cave in and killing them." she finishes with tears leaking down her face, with Shadow looking at her with sympathy. The black Hedgehog tapped her shoulder to grab her attention.

"Non of you could have foreseen the outcome of the Grimm's numbers. That wasn't your fault, nor your teammates. You faced the unknown with civilians, bravely and boldly. Trusting your groups' decision, and pushing your boundaries is no mistake." the brownette drys her tears, "If anything, you learned from the experience. Now you're back among your people. You're continuing to fight your world's demons here and abroad, you haven't failed."

That somewhat cheered Coco up, enough for her to to start talking, "Okay, then, your not a fault either." Shadow raised an eyebrow, "Nope, see, now you know that your not as 'perfect' as you think. You know your strengths and weakness', and therefore you can improve upon then. Ha, it's a good thing that your at a school that can help with that." she chuckles. The Ultimate Lifeform thought about it for a moment and he knew she was right. "You know, when I first saw you around the academy grounds, I thought you were playing hard to get. Now I know you're just like us, lost on this big, crazy world just like the rest of us. But we'll look out for each other, whether it be on the battlefield or on campus, right?" she questions.

Shadow looks up to see his long time friend, Maria Robotnik, watching over him with a smile. "Right." he smiles, as they both watch the city of Vale from afar with a clear sky.

* * *

_Team RWBY's dorm_   
_5:35 p.m._

"Where could he have gone?" asked Ruby, worried for Shadow. Everyone was worried about the Ulitmate Hedgehog's disappearance, though for different reasons. The Mobians went to track him down.

"Why should you be concerned, did you forget that he tried to kill us?" menationed Weiss.

"Of course I haven't!" the crimsonette cried out in defense, "I just want to know his side of things."

"This feels like the whole situation when we found out about Blake's Faunus-related heritage." Yang compared. She, as well as Nora, woke up from consciousness on their beds to recover from Shadow's methods of knocking someone out.

"And just like my situation, we have to hear him out Weiss." stated the cat Faunus.

The Schnee sighs, "I know, I guess my father's teachings and view-points are harder to brake than I thought."

"The path to improvement can be long and difficult, with many road blocks." Ren said with insight, "And are Mobius friends are no different." The members of Team JNPR were also with Team RWBY to understand Shadow and keep themselves company until he is found.

"That we are not..." a deep voice called out, revealing the black and red Hedgehog leaning on the open of Team RWBY's dorm. Everyone within the room stood up and tensed their muscles in responces. "I'm not here to fight, I came to apologise for my actions." the humans slightly relaxed with Ruby charging in to hug the Ultimate Lifeform.

"You don't have to apologise..." cried the scythe-wielder. "...Because I forgive you." The Ultimate Lifeform was shocked at the young huntress' acceptance, but the others were wary of him, ecspecially Yang since he's being hugged her younger sister.

"I know you can accept me forgive me, Ruby. But it'll take longer for the others to forgive me." informed the black Hedgehog, as he uses Chaos Snap to disappear once again.

"He's right." admitted Jaune, "the way I see it, we've lost our respect to him. And we need to regain it."

"Then he's got a long way to go to regain mine." huffed the blonde brawler.

After dealing with Teams RWBY and JNPR, Shadow went to find the others to apologise for his actions, to which he did. They forgive him, as long as he doesn't lash out or remove his inhibitor rings unless absolutely necessary. To that, he agreed. Ozpin and Glynda advised if Shadow could parttake in anger-mangement counciling, but he declined, with Rouge and Omega backing up his statement with what happened with his previous councilor back on Mobius.

* * *

_Mobians' Dorm_   
_Midnight_

Finally, the whole fiasco with training Humans in the ways of using Chaos energy and Shadow's outburst was over for the day. Everyone slept through the night like any other night, dreaming of their fantasy's of killing Grimm and robots, saving the world, and living happily.

However, all but one is in a state of an nightmare. Sonic the Hedgehog, face down on the ground as the city of Vale and Beacon Academy burn all around him. His friends dead across the streets, his swords, _Cobalt Shard_ and King Mogar's diamond sword, were shattered, and the Chaos Emeralds are completely drained of all colour and energy. The blue Hedgehog could barely stand as he faces a demonic entity holding Ruby Rose by her neck, while laughing like a maniac.

"S-Sonic..." the young crimsonette gagged, "W-why did you thi-" before she could finish, the person posing as 'Sonic' snapped her neck, continuing to laugh as he discards the young huntress' dead body away, and looks at the real Sonic in front of him.

The last thing Sonic saw from his nightmare were a pair of red, spirial-like eyes and golden glow radiating off the entity's body. Could it be, that _he_ is returning? After so many years? And why now? The blue blur could not go back to sleep as he questions what thing could mean.


	75. Ally or Foe?

_Mountain Glenn's undergrounds_   
_3:00 p.m._

Communications with patrol teams are mostly quiet since the only thing to report on were mostly packs of Grimm passing by. That is until a patrol team called in something different, _"Glenn Base, this is Patrol Four, we've captured one of those Mobian freaks. Over."_ Patrol Four's leader called in.

"Glenn Base here Patrol Four, please repeat. Over?" a rabbit Faunus operator answered.

_"Copy Glenn Base, we have located and neutralised one of the Doctor's enemies. Over."_

"Is it still alive, Patrol Four?"

_"Affirmative, we used a shock dart to subdue it."_

"Good work, Patrol Four. Bring it in and we'll see what the Doctor has instore for it."

 _"Copy that, Glenn Base, over and out."_ Once the call ended, the White Fang operator quickly jumped from his seat to locate his bosses, specifically Eggman. Instead, he ran into Roman Torchwick, who was about to light another one of his cigars, when the operative bumped into him.

"Hey, whoa, watch where your going, you stupid animal." Torchwick insulted, to which the rabbit Faunus ignores.

"Sorry sir. But I have important news for Eggman." he informed.

"Oh, well didn't you say?" he said enthusiatically, "I was about find him myself."

Both the criminal and the soldier walked off to where Doctor Robotnik was working. With various blueprints of robot designs on a table, a container with Dralux's energy, and the doctor himself working on a head of a robot with his smaller robotic assistances with him.

"'Sup Eggy." Roman greeted, almost scarring the concentrated madman.

"Roman! For the love of Chaos, never do that again!" Ivo threatens, "Now what do you want?"

"A-actually sir, I have information that may intrest you." the White Fang grunt nerviously states, earning the doctor's interest, "one of those Mobians has need captured by one of our patrol teams."

This really caught Dr. Eggman's interest. "Which one?" he asks, with the Faunus nervously responded with uncertainty on which Mobian was captured. Roman dismissed the White Fang grunt back to his post, while quetsioning which one it could possibly be. "It can't be Sonic or Shadow, their too fast to be captured so easily. Omega is out of the question too. So it could be Tails, Amy, Rouge, Blaze, or Silver." he estiamted.

"My money is on the two-tailed Fox being caught," with Robotnik asking 'why', "because I'm a gambling man. I'll take my chances." Roman menations before walking away to supervise the Faunus and robots to not screw up whatever duties their doing.

A few hours pass and the squad from Patrol Four return with their prisoner, who's still knocked out from the shock dart. Cinder smiled sinisterly while Roman groaned at his loss of the gamble he was hoping for. Eggman, on the other hand, was scared. Why? Because the White Fang caught and brought in Nazo the Hedgehog.

"WHAT!? You brought him here!" he outbursts in terror. The criminal tried to calm him down with little success, while the False Maiden wanted an explanation as to who or what they captured. Dr. Robotnik calmed himself before dragging Cinder, Roman, Neo, Emerald, and Mercury into his working area.

"That is Nazo. A detity from the _Chaos Force_ , one of the five that Sonic and myself have encountered." he describes as he pulls up a screen of five different Mobian-like beings. The first one looked like a pool of water with green eyes and organ that looked like his brain. The second was a orange Echidna wearing a tanktop-like garment and a traditional tribal dress. The third appears like a red Echidna dressed in golden armour and wielding a staff. The forth one is a red Hedgehog with a 'J'-looking marking along his left eye. The fifth and finally one looks like a Hedgehog again, only bluish-white with red and blue sneakers, just like the one they have captive.

"Who was your first?" Emerald wonders.

"The water-looking one named 'Chaos', a God of Destruction and protectors of little creatures called 'Chao'. The second was a Echidna girl named 'Tikal', who acts as a caretaker of sorts for Chaos when angered. The next one is 'Enerjak', this one is capable of possessing anyone to his will. After him was the moderator of the _Chaos Emeralds_ named 'Bedlam'. And finally, there's Nazo." Eggman open up files of any knowledge of each entity, along with a few of their transformations and appears.

"Nazo is the most powerful one, with Bedlam coming in a close second. Created from the _Chaos Emerald's_ negative energy and capable of wiping the floor with Sonic and Shadow combined, even with the _Chaos Emeralds_ in their possession." the mad scentist finishes.

"If this guy is so powerful, then how come he was defeated?" Mercury snarkly questions, believing all of this to be over exaggerated.

"Both Hedgehogs had transformed into the most strongest transformation the _Chaos Emeralds_ can grant. The _Hyper State_ ," another file opens in front of Nazo's, show pictures of Sonic glowng completely white with his quills pointing upwards, "a form that far surpasses a Super State that, in theory, is worth a full set of _Chaos Emeralds_ multiplied by seven times. And to top it all off, they learned a complex techniques called 'Chaos Fusion', where two beings combine into one more powerful than both individuals." a video opens of Sonic and Shadow disappearing in a flash of light and a singular being appeared with Sonic's blue body-colour, Shadow's red streak along the quills, and algamation of both Hedgehog's sneakers. "And even then they struggled to completely take down Nazo at his best."

No one uttered a word. Not one. Cinder processed the information and the only thing that she understood was even if she obtained all four of the Maidens powers, it would still not be enough for her. So perhaps they're new found 'friend' could help her with that. "Doctor," she says, "do you believe that this 'Nazo' could assist us in our goals?"

"Honestly, I don't know." he answers, "But what I do know is that he's smart, strong, and extremely dangerous. Even as he is, so I advice you take this." he hands her a small device.

"I'll take my chances." Cinder says as she smilies at an idea within her mind.

* * *

Nazo the Hedgehog regained consciousness to see himself within a rustly old jail cell. He sluggishly stood up with questions running through his head. _'Where am I? Who shot me? Was it one of those Humans that followed me?'_ Non of them could be answered until a Human woman wearing a red dress walked up to his cell.

"So you the legendary Nazo the Hedgehog. I'm unimpresses." she said in a mocking manner.

"And who might you be?" the Chaos God demanded.

"I, am Cinder Fall, and I have a proposition for you." Nazo raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms in curiosity. "You can help us with our plans of conquest, or you can stay here and rot away and be forgotten."

Nazo laughs at this woman's attempt of intimidation and her pathetic proposal. "And what's stopping me from teleporting away right now?" he retorts. She smarks with her face saying 'go ahead and try'. He smilies at shouts, "Chaos CONTROL!" and nothing happens, confusion him. He trys again and again, all but nothing. Cinder simply chuckles at his escape attempts as she finds it rather amusing. "What have you done!?" he yells out in anger and frustration.

"Tell me, have you heard of Miles 'Tails' Prowler?" the blueish-white Hedgehog recalls such a name once, believing him to be a young Mobian Fox with strange mutation that worked alongside Sonic. "Well, he has taken away your powers when you arrived on this world. Fortunately, I have a solution thanks to a scentist from your reality who's in ours as well. He can help you re-obtain your lost power... if you join us." she offers. Unaware to Nazo that the small black device the madman gave her was placed on the back of head, cancelling his connection the _Chaos Force_.

Nazo thought about the offer, thinking that he can use this foolish woman to destroy anything once he recovers his energy back. "I accept your offer." Cinder opens the cell door and both grin evilly as they shake each others hands. Unaware to both that they have plans of their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time since the villains had a chapter to themselves. So yeah, Nazo joins Cinder, this'll raise their threat-level by a bit.


End file.
